Christmas Exhibition - W.F. Bruce Clocks

It is in the tranquil setting of WF Bruce antique clocks that I learn a fascinating story. The room is elegant, and decorated with beautiful regency style wallpaper and solid antique furniture. There is a rhythmic ticking which is strangely soporific. Bill Bruce and his wife greet me with unaffected politeness. Earl Grey in hand, I settle down to find out what makes Bruce tick. He has been hooked on clocks since he was nine years old. His imagination was caught 'by the events they had presided over and the conversations they were witness to'. Glancing around the room at the array of ancient timepieces, I can quite understand.

Many of Bruce's collection are Lewes clocks - there were a disproportionate number of clockmakers in the area. He shows me a Weston from 1720 (the family still lives in Lewes) and a John Mills of Hellingly, the rarest of them all. Then the story unfolds, in front of a Richard Comber. 'He was a clockmaker's clockmaker', says Bruce, 'He always included all those extra details, although,' he hesitates, 'his genius came at a price.' Oh? 'He ended up in St Luke's asylum'. Despite his best efforts, I learn. When he was first presented to the medical board, it was Comber's escort who was locked up. It seems Comber had informed them that the attendant was the true lunatic (whom he had humoured into believing otherwise) and then slipped away. Comber's cool manner convinced them, although he was later admitted for good. Who would have thought clocks could be so interesting? ER