Cooke & Kelvey was founded in 1858 by Robert Thomas Cooke and Charles Kelvey and were clockmakers, pearl and diamond merchants, gold and silversmiths, and high-end jewellers, carrying out some of their finest work during the latter period of British administration in India. Such was there standing for extreme high-quality craft and workmanship, they were commissioned on numerous occasions by British and Indian Royal families and many of the highest echelons of related society, being noted as; “…famous for their beautifully appointed showrooms with rare jewels of immense value, collected from all parts of the world, together with their unrivalled displays of solid silver, testimonial plate, electroplate, clocks, and watches etc.”
The firm of Cooke & Kelvey were also appointed contractors to the British Government, being preferred manufacturers of precious metal office and residential clocks such as this one. The company’s stated Hq was in London with manufacturing bases in Delhi, Lahore, and Simla (where this clock was assembled) and was under the control of several owners before passing onto the Khemka family in 1946, under whom it remains today.