Gent of Leicester Slave Clock | 1960s Renovated Red Copper look Factory Clock, Quartz Movement
Gent of Leicester Slave Clock | 1960s Renovated Red Copper look Factory Clock, Quartz Movement
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An original 1960s wall clock marked "Gent of Leicester" on the dial, once a slave clock in a British factory or workplace, now fully renovated with a fresh hammered dark copper and red finish and converted to a modern, self-contained quartz movement.
At a glance
| Manufacturer | Gent of Leicester |
| Produced | Circa 1960s |
| Original function | Slave clock |
| Finish | Fresh hammered dark copper / red |
| Dial | Silver |
| Glass | Convex glass cover |
| Movement | Converted to modern quartz, single battery |
| Hands | Original pointers, modified for the quartz conversion |
| Diameter | 24.5 cm (9.6") |
| Height / depth | 6.5 cm (2.6") |
| Availability | One of one, once sold this exact piece will not return |
| Import duty | Payable by the buyer in their own country |
A note on the "Gent" marking
You'll notice this dial reads "Gent of Leicester" rather than "Gents of Leicester," the fuller name you'll see on some of our other clocks from the same maker. This isn't a different company or a sign of anything wrong with the clock, genuine vintage examples turn up with both markings, and even among specialist clock collectors it's something of an open question exactly why, whether it came down to the dial size, the product line, or simply the period it was made in. Either way, it's a documented, authentic variation rather than a red flag.
The story
Before it became a decorative piece, this clock had a real job to do. It was originally a slave clock, meaning it had no timekeeping mechanism of its own. Instead, it was wired into a central master clock elsewhere in the building, which sent out a regular electrical pulse that advanced the hands by a fixed step each time, keeping every slave clock on the same circuit in perfect agreement down to the minute. This was standard practice across British factories, offices, and public buildings through much of the twentieth century, where dozens of these clocks might hang throughout a single site, all showing exactly the same time from one shared source, a solution that predated any kind of wireless synchronisation by decades. Gents of Leicester, founded in 1872 by John Thomas Gent, was one of the names most responsible for that technology, and its clocks are still found today in old factories, schools, and railway buildings across Britain.
This particular clock has been fully renovated, with a fresh hammered finish in a dark copper and red tone that gives it real warmth and presence on a wall. The silver dial sits under a convex glass cover, and the original pointers remain in place, modified to work with the clock's new heart: a modern, self-contained quartz movement running on a single battery. That means it needs no master clock or pulse generator to keep time, simply set it and hang it, while it still looks every bit the factory original it once was.
Suited to collectors of British industrial and horological history, interior designers looking for a self-contained, ready-to-hang statement clock, and anyone who wants a genuine piece of factory timekeeping history without the wiring a true slave clock would require.