Daniel Quare (c. 1648 – 1724) was Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1708. He was the inventor of the repeating movement. He was also the first to have used minute hands, feature invented by the Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens. Quare was an arch rival of Thomas Tompion and as a practising Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) he would not sign any oths of allegiance and this prevented his appointment as Clockmaker to the King. Nevertheless he was a regular visitor at the Royal Palace and was ‘free of the back stairs’. He took on Stephen Horseman as apprentice in 1709, who later became his partner. Although not all watches are numbered, the known production numbers are between 233 and about 4989, with Horseman as partner until about 5500, and a separate series (109 – 857) for his repeating watches. He had a very successful business which counted many members of the Nobility and Foreign Ambassadors amongst his clientele.
Antiquarian Horology 