Night clock A night clock is a clock fitted with an interior light (a candle or an oil lamp placed inside the case) which illuminates the face at night. As might be expected, wood and an open-flame candle were not the safest of combinations, and night clocks were extreme fire hazards. The first night clock was commissioned in Italy in 1655. About 10 years later, night clocks began to appear in England, but production of this type of clock was short-lived. With the widespread introduction of repeating clocks from the late 1670s, night clocks quickly became redundant.[1] Although this type of clock was popular on the European Continent, English night clocks are exremely rare; only twelve are known to survive. Makers known to have supplied night clocks include Ahasuerus Fromanteel, John Fromanteel, Edward East, Joseph Knibb, Thomas Tompion, John Hilderson (coming soon to Clocktime), Henry Jones (coming soon to Clocktime), Robert Seignior and Edward Stanton (coming soon to Clocktime). English night clocks utilised one of two divergent systems based on two main early schools of English pendulum clockmaking: (i) the Fromanteel school, which favoured the twin-disc system; and (ii) the East school, which generally used the flag-on-chain system. End Note [1] Carter 2021, 48. Reference Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part I (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co.
