A chiming clock is a clock that plays a musical sequence of notes at the quarter hours, in addition to striking the hours. To do this it needs a separate chiming train with its own spring or weight, so most have three trains in total: one for timekeeping, one for striking and one for the chime, often indicated by three winding holes in the dial.
Chiming clocks were made in England from the seventeenth century, often on a set of bells, and many fine Georgian bracket and longcase clocks play on eight bells. The most famous tune is the Westminster chime, taken from the Great Clock at the Palace of Westminster, which became widely used on domestic clocks in the later nineteenth century. Other popular chimes include Whittington and St Michael. Many late Victorian and Edwardian clocks offer a choice of chimes on gongs or rods, controlled by a lever on the dial. German factories produced large numbers of chiming bracket clocks for the British market. Collectors look for quality movements, original cases and correct, well-tuned chiming, since repairs to complex chiming work can be expensive.
