As a 14 year old, Stephen found himself captivated by a beautiful German chiming clock displayed in the window of a shop he passed daily on his way to school. Finally summoning up the courage to enter the premises and purchase this glorious item, he was cruelly rebuffed with a resounding “No!” by the shopkeeper who announced that he was too young and would brake it. Mum to the rescue. She not only reassured the owner that it would be well looked after, but knocked the £2.10s asking price down by 5 shillings!
So started a life-long love affair with clocks.
After training as a gemologist, Stephen worked in a shop off St Martin’s lane, in Covent Garden, which also sold classic jewellery, watches and clocks. Clients would bring items in for repair, which Stephen would facilitate by contacting the relevant skilled craftsmen. This plunged him into a Dickensian world of characters and London’s maze of streets and alleyways. The various workshops were often on the top floor of dilapidated buildings - in one case access continued via a ladder into the roof space! And he fondly remembers a cockney craftsman, named Tom, who always greeted him with a cheery “Hello Sunshine” when he entered his “explosion” of a junk shop. In contrast he then delivered the most enormous French clock to a regular gem buying client’s apartment in Soho. After labouring up several flights of stairs and seeing the most perfect sideboard on which to place it, he glanced around the room, took in the heady aroma of cinnamon, the deep red decor, a sumptious bed which seemed to take up the entire floor space, then noticed the even larger mirror on the ceiling above! Clearly one should never judge a book, or a client, by its covers …
There were some hairy moments too. On one trip to an expert, Stephen found his route barred by road closures. Diving down a series of passageways to emerge in St John’s Square, he found himself face to face with the Queen! Totally flustered, he made a cursory bow, then fled. He does remember that the Queen just beamed at him.
On another occasion, when in the shop, Stephen heard what he thought was a loud gunshot. “Was business so bad that his boss had decided to end it all?” No. But almost as bad. He had just dropped and broken the carriage clock a client was coming in to collect a few hours later. There followed a mad scramble to scavenge and harvest movements from other clocks in the shop to effect a seamless repair. And a happy non-the-wiser- client was retained.
With the shop on a busy route to Leicester Square station, the passers-by and potential clientele were eclectic. Rich and poor. Actors, politicians, civil servants and … “barrow boys”. The original Covent Garden at 9 Elms ran from 4am to midday, so at noon, the market traders treated themselves to a slap-up lunch at one of the many restaurants near the shop, if they’d had a good trading day. Or they treated themselves to an elegant timepiece. Stephen had to fine tune his sales skills to match the bartering techniques of the traders, who could not conceive of paying the asking price for anything. The trick of waving a fat, rolled up wad of notes under Stephen’s nose was, it must be said, a persuasive method, on occasion, to clinch the deal.
Stephen then regaled us with the story of the “Marie Antoinette” case watch, reputed to have been commissioned for her, by her lover, the Swedish count Axel von Fersen. It was a masterpiece, created by Breuget, and, with an unlimited budget, took 30 years to complete. It has 823 components, way in excess of the normal 30-40 in a timepiece, and contained every watch function known at that time, including automatic winding, thermometer, minute repeater, shock absorber, stop watch, perpetual calendar (including leap years) chronograph and many more. The watch is encased in gold, with a clear face showing off the complicated movement of the gears inside. Other expensive materials used were platinum, rubies and sapphires. Its estimated current value is $30 million and this treasure is currently on display at the London Science Museum until 21 April 2025.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 25 March when we will hear about the Cathars in southern France and the Albigensian crusade. Our club meets every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 2.30pm, at the Holy Redeemer Church Hall, Upper Church Road, St Leonards.
We welcome all Francophiles and French speaking nationals. There is wheelchair acess to the hall and free parking nearby. More information can be found on our website www.hastingsanglofrenchclub.com and on our Facebook page, Hastings Anglo French Club.