Ticktock Goes the Willard Clock
- Libby Howlett
- May 31
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 26
A Simon Willard, Roxbury-style, tall case clock stands in the Williams Library here at Agecroft Hall. Roughly eight feet tall and two feet wide, this piece dates from the early 1800s and has been keeping time for over two hundred years. A proud piece from the Mortons' collection, the clockmaker, Simon Willard (1735-1848) was, perhaps, the most well-known clockmaker of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Willard came from a large family, the eighth of twelve siblings. Clock making was a family skill, and Simon and three of his brothers learned the trade from their grandfather. Willard made his first clock at about 13 years old, in 1766, and would go on to work for over 65 years. He was awarded many patents in his lifetime, two important ones being an 1802 patent for a wall clock called the “Improved Patent Timepiece”—a smaller, cheaper, wall clock that had an eight-day regulator cycle and was more accurate than others of the time, and an 1819 patent for an alarm clock. Siding with the Patriots during the American Revolution, Willard’s manufacturing workshop was located in Roxbury, MA, and produced all types of clocks—tall case clocks, hall clocks, church and tower clocks, and ‘banjo’ clocks—the wall clocks he’d patented in 1802. The clock in our collection was produced in the Roxbury workshop.
Willard was considered the most important clockmaker of his time. His clocks are still displayed in many colleges, including Harvard, where Willard served as the official clock keeper for over 50 years. They are in many public buildings, like the Senate Chamber in the United States Capitol and many churches. His clocks are features in many museum collections, including ours here at Agecroft Hall. Next time you’re on tour here, be sure to take a minute to spot the Simon Willard tall case clock in the Williams Library.
