Painted wooden clock

Gabriel Smith was a well-known clock maker in the early 18th century around Chester. In Liverpool at that time there would have been a number of very specialised clock making workshops, each of which produced different component parts of the clock mechanisms (springs, cases, etc). By contrast, Gabriel Smith was unusual as a maker, in that the firm produced all the component parts themselves, including the case. They were also working as carpenters and millwrights, so had access to the necessary skills.

What is a repeating mechanism?

When a cord which comes out of a hole in the side of the case is pulled then let go the clock will strike, on the bell, the hour shown by the hour hand. The clock repeating mechanism was developed by the English clockmaker Daniel Quare in 1686. This clock was donated to the museum by Joseph Mayer, a Liverpool jeweller in 1867. Mayer's extensive donation of antiquities was one of the founding collections of National Museums Liverpool.