Daniel Quare

Daniel Quare was born around 1648, in some sources 1649, in Somerset, England. Little is documented about his early life, and no record of his apprenticeship survives; horological researchers infer that he trained under an unidentified master roughly between 1662 and 1669. By 1671 he was established in London and was admitted as a Free Brother of the Clockmakers' Company that year. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and this Quaker affiliation is reflected in the burial ground where he was later interred.

Quare built his reputation on invention as much as craftsmanship. Around 1680 he developed a quarter-repeating watch mechanism that sounded the nearest hour and quarter hour when the owner pressed a pin on the case. His claim to this invention was contested by the Reverend Edward Barlow, and circa 1687 to 1688 King James II favored Quare's design and refused the patent for which Barlow had applied. In 1695 he patented a portable barometer, originally fitted with legs and later adapted to hang on a wall, which became widely imitated. His workshop supplied clocks, watches, and barometers to a wealthy and high ranking clientele, including royal courts at home and abroad.

His standing within his trade continued to rise. He became Master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1708, and was appointed Watchmaker to King George I in the same period. Quare died on 21 March 1724, aged about 75, at his country house in Croydon, Surrey, and was buried in the Quaker burial ground at Chequer Alley, Bunhill Fields.

Quare is treated by museums, auction houses, and horological historians as one of the defining makers of his period. Christie's has described him as one of the most illustrious clockmakers of England's golden age of horology, pointing to his mastership of the Clockmakers' Company in 1708 and his appointment as George I's watchmaker as evidence of his standing. Museo Galileo, in its catalogue of instrument makers, characterizes him as one of the most renowned English clockmakers of his time and also a maker of barometers and mathematical instruments, noting that his business prospered on a wealthy, high ranking clientele. This assessment is echoed across specialist literature, including modern horological research, which consistently pairs his inventive record, the repeating watch mechanism and the portable barometer, with his guild leadership as the basis for his lasting reputation.

Quare's market runs through specialist clock and watch auctions rather than the contemporary art market. Available research does not support a confirmed, comprehensive ranking of his all-time highest auction results, and results from major auction houses likely exist that are not captured in accessible public records. Two results are clearly documented: a quarter-repeating table clock signed by the later partnership of Quare and Stephen Horseman sold for GBP 30,000 at Chiswick Auctions, London, though the exact sale date could not be confirmed, and a Daniel Quare repeater pocket watch, circa 1700, sold for GBP 7,500 against an estimate of GBP 3,000 to 5,000 at Cheffins, Cambridge, reported in April 2021. Because a full record of his sales is not available and sale volume is low, no single figure should be treated as a verified market ceiling.

There is no catalogue raisonne for Daniel Quare, so provenance, signed dials and backplates (typically reading "Dan: Quare, London" or "Danl. Quare, London"), and cross-checking against Clockmakers' Company records are the practical tools for verification. His market is thin and unevenly documented: relatively few pieces come to auction in any given year, and the results that are confirmed range from a few thousand pounds for watches to tens of thousands of pounds for table clocks, with object type, complication, and condition driving value far more than any single index figure could. A complete record of his auction history has not been established, so any figure presented as his "record" should be treated with caution. Collectors should also expect to see his work concentrated in museum and historic house collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston's Rienzi Collection, and Hampton Court Palace, which limits available supply and reinforces the importance of documented history when a piece does appear on the market.