Bex Design were commissioned by local fine artist, David Galbraith to provide high-end base panels for limited edition clocks. Bex used a combination of screen printing and digital printing to provide a completely bespoke, high-quality and precise piece of art.

Comitti-Clock
The magnificent Navigator clock with finished base panels

Background

David Galbraith is the creative director of Historic Times a subsidiary of Deacon and Son the jewellers, with both companies based in Old Town, Swindon. Historic Times traditionally designs and produces high quality, branded pocket watches and clocks.

David said “I was looking for a local printing company to work on the production of high quality, decorated clock panels and am delighted to have discovered Bex Design and Print. After discussing the project with them, Bex were quickly able to offer a solution which used a range of printing techniques.”

David painting ship
David working on the original painting depicting HMS Victory

Grasshopper Navigator Clock

Historic Times has partnered with the luxury clock manufacturer Comitti, based in Essex and are working together in the design and production of a range of clocks, starting with the Grasshopper Navigator clock. This impressive clock is based on the original created by the 18th century genius English clockmaker, John Harrison who produced the first marine chronometer used by ship officers to assist in navigation, drastically cutting the loss of ships at sea by solving the problem of calculating longitude.

The base for each Navigator clock comprises four individual panels each depicting a famous sailing ship, namely: HMS Victory, Cutty Sark, HMS Beagle and HMS Endeavour, with each ship being hand painted by David.

Screen & Digital Production

Dave Brown for Bex Design continues “Each panel was supplied to Bex, finished in a flat black lacquer and was screen printed with the appropriate gold keyline-map. The four ship images were then digitally printed over the gold using our Jetrix LXi8 flat-bed printer, building up eleven individual layers of ink to create the raised chinoisere effect David requested. The panels were then returned to Historic Times where they were lacquered and polished to give a high-quality, glass like finish.”

Comitti Clock Panel

Future Projects

There is an excellent working relationship between Historic Times and Bex Design with a number of additional and equally exciting projects in the planning stages, all using a mixture of traditional and ultra modern technology to create beautiful works of art.

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