Clocks, Marine Chronometers and Barometers

Christie’s has been selling clocks since our first auction in 1766. Renowned collections offered for sale include the Magnificent Clocks from the Nezu Museum (2008) and the Abbott Guggenheim Collection of Renaissance clocks and automata (2015).

Our department has a particularly strong record in selling clocks made for the Asian market — clockmakers such as James Cox and Henry Borrell, among others — including the world record price for an English-made clock at auction.

We also sell the very best clocks on the English market, makers from the ‘Golden Age’ of clockmaking: Thomas Tompion, George Graham, Daniel Quare, the Knibb family and Ahasuerus Fromanteel.

Christie’s holds the overall auction world record for a clock, a masterpiece by Karl Faberge which sold for £8,980,500 in 2007. Clocks are sold within all our Decorative Arts auctions and collection sales, with masterworks offered in selected Exceptional Sales. Recent private sales have included the unique Barnard Tompion table clock, via the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which was permanently allocated to the Science Museum Group.

An ornate antique clock with a large round white dial flanked by two classical bronze figures on a decorative marble and golden base.

No upcoming Clocks, Marine Chronometers and Barometers auctions

Our specialists are currently preparing our next Clocks, Marine Chronometers and Barometers auctions. In the meantime, browse results from past auctions.

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Contact us

From free valuations to market advice, our specialists are here to answer your questions.

Thomas Williams
International Head of English Furniture & Clocks
+44 207 752 3239
twilliams@christies.com
London
Thomas joined Christie’s in 2024 assuming overall responsibility for English Furniture & Clocks. Prior to joining Thomas spent 13 years at Sotheby’s during which time he was involved in many of the department’s most successful auction sales.
Amjad Rauf
International Head of Masterpiece and Private Sales
+44 (0) 20 7389 2358
arauf@christies.com
London
As International Head, Masterpiece and Private Sales, and Head of the London annual Exceptional Sale, Amjad Rauf’s main focus is Decorative Arts Masterpieces, notably for sales in London, Paris and New York. Based in London, Amjad works closely with his Decorative Arts colleagues globally, as well as other Christie’s representatives, collaborating with them on matters of client relations, sourcing, valuations, curating and expertise. Responsible for Decorative Arts Private sales since 2014, Amjad staged the exhibition “Empire, curated by Hubert de Givenchy” in 2014, and “Expanding Horizons”, in 2021, focusing on the relation between Asian Contemporary Art and Classical Decorative Arts. One of the most international members of Christie’s Decorative Arts team, Amjad is fluent in English, Dutch, German and French. He joined the department in London in 1995, and has since, in various capacities, worked on the sales of European Decorative Arts as well as key European and US Collections, such as the sale of the late Dr Anton Dreesmann in 2002 (£22,4 Million); The Champalimaud and Wildenstein Collections in 2005 (£39 Million and £21,9 Million), Taste of the Royal Court in 2016 (£ 6,7 Million) and the Eric Albada Jelgersma Collection in 2018 (£ 22 Million). A highly memorable moment in his career was the sale of the Badminton cabinet in 2004 (£19 Million), the most expensive piece of furniture ever sold at auction.
Paul Gallois
Specialist
+33 6 75 46 65 23
pgallois@christies.com
London
Paul Gallois, Head of European Furniture, EMEA, joined Christie’s in 2013. Trained by renowned furniture expert and author Alexandre Pradère, he began his career as a European Decorative Arts specialist in New York before moving to London, where he led the department for more than a decade. This international experience has given him a broad and informed perspective on the market.

Now based in Paris, he oversees the European Furniture and Works of Art sales across EMEA, working closely with the international Decorative Arts team, with a strong focus on connoisseurship and research into European furniture masterpieces. With deep expertise in French and Continental furniture, he advises many of the world’s leading collectors and has made significant discoveries that have furthered scholarship in this area.

Among his notable discoveries is a bureau de pente by Jacques Dubois delivered to Madame de Pompadour, sold in 2018 for £1,871,250. He led the landmark Masterpieces from a Rothschild Collection sale in 2019 (£25,394,625) and subsequently contributed as lead specialist for the Hubert de Givenchy collection in 2022 (€114,400,000) and the Rothschild sales in New York in 2024 ($43,237,900).

Paul holds a Law degree from Panthéon-Assas University and a History of Art degree from the Sorbonne.
Alix Melville
Head of Sale, Associate Specialist
+44 (0) 20 7389 2226
amelville@christies.com
London
Alix joined Christie’s Decorative Arts department in May 2022 as a Junior Specialist working primarily with the English, European, and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art departments. Since joining she has worked on the Exceptional sales in London, Provenance Revealed: Galerie Steinitz and is co-head of the biannual Collector sale series in London. Before joining Christie’s Alix was with another leading auction house in London for three years and prior to this worked for two years as an advisor to a private collector. She holds an MA in Art History from the University of St Andrews with a particular focus on English and European Decorative Arts from Baroque to Art Nouveau. She was awarded the Trethowan scholarship for her undergraduate dissertation where her research was responsible for the re-attribution of two Broadwood & Sons decorated pianos housed in museums in London and Birmingham, historically attributed to the artist Edward Burne-Jones, to the lesser known female artist Kate Faulkner. After graduation she moved to Italy where she completed the postgraduate certificate program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection with the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. She also holds a Diploma in Art Profession Law and Ethics from the Institute of Art and Law in London.
Benjamin Berry
Head of Sale, Associate Specialist
+44 (0) 20 7389 2775
bberry@christies.com
London
Benjamin joined Christie’s Decorative Arts department as a Cataloguer in 2021 and has worked on the biannual Collector sales as well as contributing to the phenomenal success of the sale of the collection of Hubert de Givenchy in June 2022 and the London Exceptional Sale in July 2022. Enthused by history and research, Benjamin works primarily with the English, European, and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art departments. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Classics and German from Oxford University and prior to joining Christie’s worked with museums and auction houses in the UK and Germany.
Georgina Marriott
Sale Coordinator, Classic Art Group
+44 20 7389 2968
gmarriott@christies.com
London