PHOTOCALL FRIDAY 7 MAY, 11AM, AT BONHAMS, NEW BOND STREET ‘IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE,’ DECREED EMPEROR MEIJI WHEN JAPAN ADOPTED A EUROPEAN TIME SYSTEM

60 stunning examples of traditional Japanese clocks, owned by the former chairman of the British Horological Institute, John Read, are available to photograph prior to The John Read Collection of Fine Antique Japanese Timekeepers sale at Bonhams, New Bond Street on 11 May at 2pm.

 

Clockmakers in Japan were painstaking as they knew their Samurai patrons would not take kindly to clocks that failed to keep accurate time. Of the many strange features about these clocks are the numbers which allow one to calibrate them to the longer summer hour based on the greater amount of light requiring an expandable hour. The Japanese were as confused by western concepts of time, introduced by Christian Missionaries, as the westerners were by Japanese timekeeping.

 

Perhaps, rather sadly, western time won and the Japanese clock was redundant, which makes this collection all the more fascinating because for the past 200 years these clocks have literally kept `a time that is past.’

 

John Read OBE, the leading authority in the west on Japanese clocks and the man who introduced Rolex to Japan, brought this fascinating collection of timepieces back to England. He first moved to Japan in 1954 when the country was beginning its recovery from the destruction wrought during the Second World War. While there he trained as many as 500 Japanese watchmakers.

 

He says: “These are outstanding clocks of their time. Over time the clocks evolved to suit the peculiarities of the Japanese timekeeping system. Nevertheless they remained an incredibly expensive and rare item. One clock would have cost the equivalent of 20 years wages for a normal person. On top of this, each was looked after by a man whose sole responsibility was the maintenance of the clock. It is little wonder the clocks were so expensive.”

 

Also on view is the Fine Japanese Art sale featuring a remarkable piece of armour estimated at £100,000 – 150,000.

 

Bonhams

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com