Chelsea Flower Show Floral Clock by Gillett & Johnston

Basildon Bond

When Basildon Bond decided to commemorate their centenary with a special garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, they decided upon a design featuring a faithful reproduction of the Basildon Bond clock mounted on weathered cladding representing the Mill Manager’s cottage at Apsley Mill.

Gillett & Johnston were contacted as they are one of the few specialist companies capable of carrying out this type of floral clock work.

What was the problem?

To manufacture a 13″ dia.  Faithful copy of the original 3ft. bracket clock which hangs outside the offices of Basildon Bond in Hemel Hempstead.

The 13″ dia. is not a standard size which meant starting from scratch in order to make a replica of the 3ft original.  Due to its size not everything could be an exact replica but had to be as close a copy as possible.

Once we had the original measurements we were able to scale down the iron work, manufacturing by hand each the 48 scrolls that surrounded the 13″ dials.

What did we do?

We first had to make a drawing of the original clock in order to make a scale model, including the bracketry.

Once we had the measurements, we were able to manufacture the case in stainless steel, undercoating and painting as per the original.  We next started on the bracketry, but because of the miniaturisation it could not be identical but as near a copy as possible.  This was hand made in stainless steel and undercoated and painted black.  The most time consuming job was the 48 scrolls that surrounded the dial, each individually hand-made and attached to the case.

The dials were painted white and the letters ‘Basildon Bond’ painted round the dial.  the movement was then fitted with appropriate hands.

The Result

The clock was delivered on time and fitted to the award winning garden.  It was so appreciated that it now takes pride of place in the offices of the designers.

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