A finely carved, mahogany case with Roman silvered and engraved dial gong striking spring table clock. With side sound frets this clock strikes the 1/4's on a ting-tang and then the hours on a single gong. It comes fully serviced with a three year guarantee.
Samuel Suckley Benson (born in 1822 in London) and James William Benson founded the company S. S. & J. W. Benson in 1847. They purchased the premises, and possibly the business interests, of established companies in London at Cornhill and Ludgate Hill, from which they sometimes claimed a date of foundation of 1749.[2] The partnership was dissolved on 27 January 1855 and James William continued in business under the name 'J. W. Benson'. James William Benson died on 7 October 1878, aged 52, and his sons James, Alfred and Arthur took over the running of the business.
Throughout its history, J. W. Benson Ltd was official watchmaker to the Admiralty & the War Department and also held a number of royal warrants, being watchmakers to Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, the Tsar of Russia, Abu Bakar of Johor and several other royal families.
The company's premises were in Cornhill (1847–64), Ludgate Hill (1854-1937), Old Bond Street (1872-3), and Royal Exchange (1892-1937), and their original workshop was at 4-5 Horseshoe Court (at the rear of their Ludgate Hill premises). In 1892 J. W. Benson became a limited company and moved to a new 'steam' factory at 38 Belle Sauvage Yard.
During World War II the factory was bombed, destroying thousands of timepieces and from this point on the company no longer manufactured its own watches, but still continued as a retailer.