A James II/William and Mary lantern clock with alarm Joseph Windmills, London, circa 1685-90 The posted countwheel bell striking movement with verge escapement and pendulum swinging within the frame of the clock between the trains, the dial signed J: Windmills, London towards the upper margin of the dial centre and with engraved flowering tulip scrolling infill beneath, the centre with alarm disc and pierced iron hand within applied silvered Roman numeral chapter ring and stylised leaf engraved angles, the standard third period 'Lothbury' type frame with column-turned corner posts beneath foliate engraved and pierced frets, vase turned finials and domed bell bearer, the sides now with brass doors incorporating 'winged' projections capped with further leafy frets, the rear with external alarm mechanism fitted along with spurs to the iron backplate beneath iron hanging hoop riveted to the top plate, on turned ball feet, (with restoration/ rebuilding) 38cm (15ins high). The life and work of Joseph Windmills and his successors is comprehensively documented in Neale, A.J. Joseph and Thomas Windmills Clock and Watch Makers 1671-1737. Joseph joined the Clockmakers' Company as a free Brother in 1671 - the same year that Joseph Knibb, Thomas Tompion and Daniel Quare also gained their freedom of the Company. He initially worked from Blow Bladder Street in St. Martins le Grand, London before moving to premises at Swan Court, Mark lane End, next Tower Street by April 1674 where the business remained. Joseph took his son, Thomas, as an apprentice who, after gaining his freedom in 1696, is thought to worked with his father; by 1700 the business had become a partnership between father and son which lasted until Joseph's death in 1724.