Leighton Gillibrand

Head of Department: Clocks, Barometers and Scientific Instruments

Leighton Gillibrand, Director, specialises in Clocks, Barometers and Scientific Instruments. Graduating from the University of Portsmouth with a BA honours in Architecture in 1996 and then from Southampton with an MA in Fine Art Valuation the following year, he spent two years working as a regional valuer for Bonhams before he joined Dreweatts 1759 at Bristol (formerly the Bristol Auction Rooms) in 1998.

The last fifteen years have seen Leighton actively build and develop specialist sales in clocks, barometers and scientific instruments, allowing Dreweatts to become one of the market leaders in this field. His more notable sales include The Mickleburgh Collection of Mechanical Music, The Banfield Collection of Barometers, the Alfred Loader Collection of Clocks (which included the first longcase clock by Thomas Tompion to come onto the regional auction market in over twenty years), the workshop and horological library of John Hooper, the library and clocks from the estate of Michael Hurst, and, most recently, clocks from the estate of the Late Leonard Fuller (which also included another Tompion longcase clock).

Leighton has been involved in research exploring a possible previously unknown school of English Elizabethan clock making as well as the work of some of Thomas Tompion’s lesser-known apprentices. When not absorbed within the field of horology he can most likely be found working on a classic car project or appreciating historic buildings.