Clock This: 2014

I covered Bond Street in London back on the 4th of August 2013, but a recent visit revealed a number of changes which I went back to capture today.

First, IWC has opened its new premises on the street, and has introduced this fine new clock.

And for once a new clock has Arabic numerals.

But as one shop opens, another closes. Watches of Switzerland has vacated its site at the corner of Clifford Street, and the shop has been taken over by its old neighbour Patek Philippe.

This has led to the loss of the Rolex clock (although there is another one further down the street) and the original Patek Philippe one. However, these have been replaced by two new Patek Philippe clocks, one on Bond Street and the other one on the Clifford Street façade.

As these two new clocks also show the date, I felt an added pressure to post these pictures promptly.

These clocks are new and very shiny (with some great reflections from the casing) - anywhere else and you would expect them to become grubby quite quickly, but as this is Bond Street I expect that they will be kept in first class condition.

And finally, the Mappin and Webb store at the corner with Piccadilly has added a series of identical clocks to its shop front, two on Bond Street and another three round the corner on Piccadilly.

So good times for clocks on Bond Street - three new clock designs, one with Arabic numerals, one with dashes, and one with Roman numerals.

Deal is just a little bit further around the coast from our last point of call, Dover. What should have been a short hop on the train turned out to be a longer rail-replacement bus service, although more accurately a coach service. The annoyance of this was, however, outweighed by the fact that it revealed four clocks on the run into Deal which would not have been spotted from the train.

The first of these clocks is at the Cavalry Barracks in Dover Road. Now a residential development (as is the fate of every interesting building in the country and probably the world), this was once part of the substantial military presence in the town.

And as it is a residential conversion it is of course gated. Which unfortunately means that the view down the drive through the bars of the gate result in the clock being obscured by the flagpole.

Continuing in to the centre of Deal (although the place seems to be called Walmer rather than Deal), the next interesting location is the lifeboat station, built in 1871.

Continuing the military theme, we next come to North Barracks.

And then on to East Barracks, which has now acquired the name Admiralty Mews (Private Road) as it has also metamorphosed into another residential development.

No respectable Victorian seaside town is complete without its pier. Deal pier is rather unusual in that it has concrete supports rather than the more common timber or cast iron.

There has been a pier in Deal since 1838, but this version dates from 1957, hence the more modern construction method. Total length of the pier is 313 m (with thanks to the book "Pierdom" by Simon Roberts - great pictures of all the piers in the UK).

A quick look now at the railway station, opened in 1847, with its utilitarian clock in the booking hall.

Retail therapy now in the great little shopping streets of Deal ("a good deal to be found and good deals to be had" as the saying might go if the Chamber of Commerce wanted to have a cheesy slogan).

This is Hoads, a shoe shop....

...and this clock can be found on Skinners, an electrical supplier.

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Clearly this building on the High Street has seen a number of occupants over the years, as witnessed by the different names on each side of the clock.