James Vautrollier James Vautrollier was a gifted London-based watchmaker of likely Huguenot descent and probably born in London between 1585 and 1595.[1] It has been speculated that he was closely related to the French Huguenot refugee and printer Thomas Vautrollier, who had settled in London in the latter half of the 1500s, around the time that the Protestant-minded Elizabeth acceded to the throne following the death of her Catholic half-sister, Queen Mary I. The Blackfriars and the blacksmiths Although it is not known where James received his training, he probably learned his craft from a watchmaker in Blackfriars, an area renowned at the time as a hub of highly skilled Huguenot artisans. This would not have been unusual; many London-based watchmakers of Huguenot descent received their training in Blackfriars, one example being Isaac Pluvier (b. around 1615, d. 1665), journeyman to the celebrated master watchmaker David Boquet. According to their records, in October 1610 Vautrollier was made free by redemption from the Blacksmiths’ Company.[2] This too was not a rare occurrence, as before the founding and chartering of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers – established by royal charter in 1631 and dedicated explicitly to supporting and regulating the London clock- and watchmakers – it was common for clock- and watchmakers to train and trade through the regulation of other guilds, predominantly the Blacksmiths’ and Goldsmiths’ Companies.[3] A foreign signatory Vautrollier next appears in the historical record in 1622 as a signatory of the first petition submitted by London clockmakers to King James VI and I. He was one of sixteen craftsmen who urged the King to charter a dedicated livery company for their trade. Vautrollier was one of only two foreign signatories among the group.[4] As it happened, King James ignored the clockmakers’ initial petition, leaving the clock- and watchmaking trade unregulated. In fact, it was not until 1629 that the London clockmakers gained enough momentum to again petition the Crown for an independent Company. Finally, in 1631 a Charter was granted by James’s son and heir, Charles I. You can read more about the founding of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers here. In the 1622 petition, Vautrollier is specifically identified as an ‘alien’ working ‘without Temple Bar’. The term alien denotes his status as a foreigner. Based on this information, the French origin of his surname, and his presumed relationship to Thomas Vautrollier (mentioned above), we can deduce that Vautrollier was probably of Huguenot heritage. This conclusion is reinforced by the broader historical context, with Vautrollier’s career aligning with the late-16th-century arrival of talented Huguenot artisans seeking religious freedom in London. Although this initial wave of Huguenot artisans was shrewdly welcomed by Queen Elizabeth I – as their skills contributed immensely to the then-burgeoning London market, including the clockmaking industry – they were still regarded as outsiders.[5] This sentiment persisted in 1622. Indeed, one of the main reasons that the London clockmakers sought their own guild was to protect and support their interests through the regulation of Huguenot workers. Thus, Vautrollier’s inclusion as a signatory to the 1622 petition suggests that, despite his ‘alien’ status, he was an established watchmaker with significant standing within the clockmaking community. Perhaps, like his contemporary Edward East – a future founder of the new clockmaking guild when it was finally established in 1632 – Vautrollier benefited from knowing the right people in high places.[6] Either way, his participation in the original petition is noteworthy, as he was probably still a journeyman in his early thirties at the time. A watchmaker for all seasons All Vautrollier’s surviving watches date to the 1620s and 1630s, a discrete period that coincides with the London clockmakers’ decade-long effort to establish their guild. Although these watches constitute only a small sample of his output, their timing suggests that Vautrollier was at the height of his career during this period. The 1620s and 1630s were indeed a very interesting time to be a watchmaker in London. Although England’s government had remained relatively stable during the 1610s and early 1620s, the political landscape began to shift in 1625, following the death of King James VI and I and the accession of his son, Charles.[7] Vautrollier probably produced his sublime Gold Puritan Watch around this time, at the start of the reign of King Charles I. After Charles became King, it soon became clear that his reign would have a different character from that of his predecessor. Charles embarked on costly and ill-fated military ventures, asserted sweeping powers grounded in his belief that kings were appointed by God, and spent extravagantly at court. Also, many Protestants were troubled by the King’s openness to Arminian theological ideas, which they regarded as dangerous.[8] Arminianism is based on the ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (b. 10 October 1560, d. 19 October 1609), who argued that humans possess free will and can thus choose to accept the divine grace that God offers to all. At the time, this position directly contradicted the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Unsurprisingly, Arminianism proved extremely controversial within Reformed Protestant circles. Charles’s support for it certainly contributed to the breakdown of his relationship with Parliament from 1629. Charles’s sympathy for Arminianism also prompted many within Parliament and the wider Puritan community to reaffirm strict Reformed Protestant practices, a reaction that helped shape the emergence and fuel the popularity of a distinctly English Puritan style. This aesthetic is evident in the design of Puritan style watches, such as Vautrollier’s Gold Puritan Watch, and in English clock-case design of the period.[9] (Puritan style is a visual language defined by decorative restraint and sobriety.) Thus, Charles’s accession marks the start of a period of turmoil in England, driven by economic insecurity as well as religious and political tensions. Escalating conflict between the King and his parliamentarian opponents eventually led to the eruption of the English Civil Wars (1642–1651) and culminated in Charles’s execution for high treason in 1649. Although only a handful of Vautrollier’s timepieces survive, those that do exist show that his output was not limited to Puritan watches. He appears to have catered to a varied clientele, as his work ranges from lavishly ornamented court-style watches to the far more sober designs exemplified by the Puritan watch mentioned above. His earliest known watch is the beautifully decorated gilt and silver watch made around 1620, which is now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Accession Number 17.190.1468a,b). There is also a Vautrollier watch with a plain round silver case, housed at the Clockmakers’ Museum/Science Museum in London (Object No. L2015-3100). A Vautrollier gilt metal engraved verge watch is also held there (Object No. L2015-3582). Arguably the finest among Vautrollier’s known watches is the above-mentioned Gold Puritan Watch made around 1625 and exhibited here on Clocktime.[10] This small, plain gold-cased watch is a sublime example of an English Puritan watch. It is identified as such because it is made from high-quality materials, it is functional, no detail is superfluous, and it possesses an understated beauty. It would have been very costly, despite its lack of decoration. The fact that this outstanding watch, with its case and dial plate composed of high-purity gold, has survived until today is truly remarkable. As it happens, very few gold Puritan watches survive, because most were melted down to keep up with changing fashions or to address a scarcity of resources during times of crisis. No one knows how or why this particular watch escaped the fate of so many others of its kind. Vautrollier’s elusive legacy Vautrollier trained several apprentices during his lifetime. The first was John Colson, who began his apprenticeship in September 1637, [11] followed by William Dobbe, in April 1639.[12] Both men were eventually employed by the London-based clockmaker Richard Masterson (active from 1630, d. 1653). It is not known when Vautrollier died. He last appears in the records of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in August 1641, when he took on a new apprentice named Robert Wynn.[13] It is possible that Vautrollier died during the 1640s before Wynn completed his training.[14] This scenario is supported by the fact that all Vautrollier’s surviving watches appear to have been made before this date. However, it would have been unusual for an apprentice to cease training solely because his master was no longer available. Typically, if a master died, the workshop remained open until the apprentices finished their terms, or they were turned over to another master. This, however, was not the case for Wynn. He does not appear to have completed his training or to have established himself as a clockmaker in his own right, as there is no record of him being made free of the Company. After 1641, Vautrollier too disappears into the mists of history, leaving only a tantalising handful of exquisite early verge watches for us to contemplate. Dr Kristin Leith, Curator of Clocktime March 2026 End notes [1] Carter 2022, 21. [2] Ibid. [3] These were among the oldest guilds on record in London. The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths is first mentioned in the historical record in 1299 and received its first royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. The Goldsmiths’ Company first appears in the 1179–1180 pipe roll entry (the earliest surviving reference to the city companies, which lists 18 guilds fined by King Henry II for operating without a licence). [4] Thompson 1996. [5] You can read the Clocktime article ‘Huguenot contributions to London clockmaking’ here. By the late 1650s, London had become the clockmaking capital of the world and was widely regarding as a driver of the then-new domestic pendulum clock technology. [6] East became a Free Brother of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1627. By then he had been taken under the wing of the famous clockmaker Edmund Bull, even marrying Bull’s daughter Anne. By 1628, Bull promoted East to oversee the Bull family workshop in Ram Alley. Along with Vautrollier, Bull was also an original signatory to the first Clockmakers’ petition in 1622. In 1632, it is likely that Bull encouraged East to join the newly incorporated guild for practical reasons, and East became a founding member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. He was also the youngest of the ten original Assistants in the Company. [7] Sharpe 1997, 15–16. While the reign of King James VI and I was relatively stable, there were, of course, Catholic conspiracies – most famously the unsuccessful Gunpowder Plot led by Guy Fawkes in 1605 – and tensions in Parliament, but these which were driven largely by aristocratic factionalism. [8] Sharpe 1997, 16. [9] For an example of a Puritan style clock case see the undecorated clean-lined ebonised box case for Ahasuerus Fromanteel’s Pendulum Box Clock, made around 1659 and exhibited on Clocktime. However, the English Puritan style did not truly enter its zenith until the Commonwealth period (also known as the Interregnum), probably just after Vautrollier’s death. Horological examples from the Commonwealth period include the two silver Puritan watches made by East around 1640. One of these is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Accession Number 17.190.1468a,b), and the other is at the Science Museum in London (Object No. L2015-3100). [10] Carter 2022, 18–23, Catalogue No. 3; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 128, Catalogue No. 6.; Loomes 2014, 498; Taylor et al. 2019, 15, Exhibition No.2:3. [11] The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers 1931, 66. [12] The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers 1931, 86. [13] The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers 1931, 322. [14] Carter 2022, 21. References Carter, J. 2022. The John C Taylor Collection: Part III (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Loomes, Brian. 2014. Clockmakers of Britain: 1286 – 1700. Mayfield, Ashbourne: Mayfield Books, p. 498. Sharpe, J. A. 1997. Early Modern England: A social history 1550 – 1760 (second edition). London: Arnold. Taylor, J. C. and K. Leith (with contributions by T. Phillipson). 2019. The Luxury of Time: Clocks from 1550–1750. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. 1931. Register of Apprentices. London: Privately printed for the Company. Thompson, D. 1996. ‘Huguenot watchmakers in England: with examples from the British Museum horological collections.’ The Huguenot Society Journal 26:4, 417–430.
