With a banjo on my wall

Who is Simon Willard?

A fifth generation Willard in the U.S., Simon Willard was a famous American clockmaker. We mention fifth generation because the Willard of the first generation was among the founders of Concord, Massachusetts. Massachusetts was where Simon was born and died, the former in Grafton on April 3, 1753 and the latter, when time finally stood still for the clockmaker, in Roxbury on August 30, 1848.

Simon shifted from his place of birth, where he also picked up the basics of horology when he apprenticed to a clock maker, to his place of death in 1780. Simon settled in Roxbury once and for all thereafter, working there until his retirement in 1839.

Simon wasn’t the only Willard of the generation who took to clock making. Two of his elder brothers — Benjamin and Ephraim — were also clock makers, and so was his younger brother Aaron. In fact, it was with Benjamin that Simon continued his learning in the field after his move from Grafton to Roxbury, eventually superseding his brother and becoming a horologist of repute.

The fact that he was a pre-eminent clock maker of his time meant that his clients were some of the wealthiest of the era.

Portrait of Simon Willard by American painter Gilbert Stuart.
| Photo Credit:
Wikimedia Commons

Willard’s way of working

Willard was able to move away from the traditional ways of clockmaking, turning it in the process into a successful business venture. Traditionally, a clockmaker made every part such as the weights, hands, case, etc. Willard, however, decided to put parts sourced from others together and stamping his name on the product. This meant that while other clockmakers made a handful of clocks each year, Willard’s overall count went into the thousands.

In addition to catering to the rich, he also served the influential. In fact, it was the third president of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, who had prodded Willard to patent the clock that we now know as the banjo clock. Jefferson, who by the way made what is considered the first contribution to American vertebrate palaeontology, wasn’t the only U.S. president that Willard interacted with. He corresponded with James Madison, the fourth U.S. President, as well and even received an inscribed cane from the former president when he hosted Willard in May 1827.

Banjo clock

On February 8, 1802, Willard obtained a U.S. patent for what he called as an “Improved Timepiece”. This clock had already been in production for a number of years, and as mentioned earlier, it was Jefferson who suggested to Willard that he patent his clock. This Jefferson is believed to have done during one of his correspondence in 1801. Following his application later that year, Willard received the patent in February the following year, signed by President Jefferson, Madison, who was then Secretary of State, and Attorney General Levi Lincoln.

Featuring a weight-driven mechanism instead of a spring, Willard’s patent timepiece was lightly built and compact. The wall clock was about three feet tall, and was both dependable and also accurate.

A banjo clock made by Aaron Willard around 1830.
| Photo Credit:
Gift of James Arthur Collection, New York University / National Museum of American History & Smithsonian Institution Archives

The clock was built at a time when American clockmaking was trying to free itself from European traditions. It turned out to be one of the most original and successful American innovations of the time, not just in terms of its usability, but also in terms of how it looked.

Its distinct shape included a circular dial, a narrow throat, and a boxy base. Since the shape resembles that of the banjo when seen without the boxed base, it earned the nickname banjo clock. Willard, however, never used that name. These clocks were typically made of mahogany and had an eight-day weight-driven movement. This meant that a small drop of the weight was enough to keep it running for eight days.

In addition to thousands of these clocks being built in Willard’s workshop, Simon also freely permitted the use of his design by others, including relatives, former apprentices, and even other clockmakers. The banjo clock that you see here, in fact, was built by Simon’s brother Aaron around 1830.

Willard’s banjo clock is also rated highly in the field of decorative arts. The division of labour that Willard championed is clearly visible in these clocks, with the movement, dial, brass ornaments, case, painted glasses, hands of the clock, and nearly everything including the wooden casing being made in different shops before the final product was put in place and sold by the clockmaker.

Lighthouse clock

On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, this clock is identical to one that Willard advertised in 1822. In that advertisement, Willard stated that “the President of the United States has granted him a PATENT for his newly invented ALARUM TIMEPIECE that will run for 8 days with one winding, and keep exact time.”

A lighthouse clock.
| Photo Credit:
Gift of Mary B. Walton, in memory of her husband, John S. Walton, 1991 / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The picture that featured alongside that advertisement was a wood engraving that was almost the same as this one in all its details. That includes the octagonal base, the ball feet, and even the brass ornamental needlework on the base.

The advertisement, however, does not refer to this clock as a “lighthouse clock” anywhere, indicating that this too was a name assigned to it by others, owing to its shape.

This clock at The Met retains its original blown-glass dome, has a dummy bell and no alarm. This indicates that the alarm, while advertised, was actually an optional addition to the clock.

Originally known as the “Patent Alarm Timepiece”, this clock was patented by Willard around 1818 and is considered to be among the first alarm clocks that were produced in the U.S.

Tower clock

This tower clock served for over a 100 years in a Parish in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
| Photo Credit:
Gift of Newton L. Lockwood / National Museum of American History & Smithsonian Institution Archives

Mechanical clocks were invented somewhere between late in the 13th Century to early 14th Century. Ever since, the local clock tower has dominated the landscape, housed in a public building or in a place of worship — usually the churches in Europe and the Americas. For many centuries, people knew time only through these as they set the rhythm of the western world by announcing time to those within earshot with their bells.

While they got more accurate as the centuries went by, it was only in the second half of the 19th Century that specialised manufacturers started mass-producing these in the U.S. Before that, therefore, they were built to order by individual clockmakers.

This tower clock is one such clock, built by Willard in 1832. It has a marking which states “Made in 1832 by Simon Willard in his 80th year,” thereby indicating Willard’s age at the time this tower clock was made as well. For more than a century, this tower clock functioned on the First (Unitarian) Parish in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Housing a pin-wheel dead-beat escapement with maintaining power and a rack-and-snail hour striking train, the clock showcases splendid craftsmanship in each of its details and movements.

What’s with the headline?

The headline is a play on the lyrics of the American folk song “Oh Susanna” by Stephen Foster. Composed in 1848, the song was one of the first American songs to sell over 1,00,000 copies! The lyrics of this song has a famous line — “With a banjo on my knee”. The headline here has been tweaked, replacing the “knee” with “wall” to highlight the fact that banjo clocks adorned walls.