Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1966–2024 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
42 files in 9 boxes (1.5 linear metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Strike One (Islington) Limited, founded in 1968 at 1A Camden Passage, Islington, was one of London’s best-known specialist dealers in antique clocks, whose stock also included watches, barometers, music boxes and books. It was owned and operated by Milo Mighell, and founded with his friend and business partner, the journalist Doug Blaine. Strike One also specialised in the restoration of antique clocks and barometers. At the height of its success in the 1970s, the premises at 1A Camden Passage occupied three floors, with a showroom and a workshop, where Ron Rose was employed with two others repairing and restoring the clocks for the shop. Its main clientele consisted of private buyers, mostly resident and visiting Americans and English couples looking to furnish their houses with antique clocks. In the 1980s, as horological dealership became more competitive, Milo moved to 51 Camden Passage nearby, to smaller premises without a workshop as Ron Rose started working from home. Around 1992 Milo decided to follow suit, leave the Camden Passage premises and trade from home in Balcombe Street, Marylebone. Around 2004 Strike One was taken over by Rafferty & Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks of 79 Kensington Church Street, London.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Milo Mighell (pronounced Mile; b.1931), officially John Mighell, is an expert on English, Continental and American clocks and author of a number of articles on clock collecting. He brought the attention of clock collectors around the world to previously neglected areas of horology, such as tavern clocks and Vienna regulators.
Milo had been working for 26 years for an international mining corporation until 1968, when his friend, journalist Doug Blain, came up with an idea of opening a clock shop. This became Strike One (Islington) Limited.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited at the AHS at Lovat Lane in May 2025 via James Nye, at the recommendation of Ron Rose when Milo Minghell, then in his 90s, expressed a wish to have his business records preserved.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This collection comprises business records of Strike One Limited, specialist dealers in antique clocks and other horological items, founded by Milo Mighell in 1968. They include stock/sales books, which list every item that went through the business; clock photograph albums, which contain an image of every clock, together with a typed description (a ‘descriptive ticket’); clock files arranged by clock type, with individual clock descriptions; as well as a handful of sales and exhibition catalogues and other publications with Milo Mighell’s contributions. The archive also contains an interview with Milo Mighell conducted by James Nye in 2024; although not created as part of Strike One’s business activities, it sheds valuable light at its and its founder’s history.
The unique stock numbers, which were assigned to each item at the time of purchase and appear across the collection for cross-referencing purposes, are made up of two parts separated by a full stop/point. Before the full point is the month and two digits for the year. After the full point there is an incremental number assigned to each new purchase. For example, stock number 868.123 indicates August 1968, purchase 123.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
The Strike One archive has been fully catalogued and no further deposits are expected.
System of arrangement
The collection is arranged into five series, as follows
STR/01: Stock / Sales Books
STR/02: Clock Photographs
STR/03: Clock Sales Files
STR/04: Catalogues and Publications
STR/05: Company History
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
These records are mostly available for public access by prior appointment. Records containing personal information, such as series STR/01, are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 2018.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Catalogued in July 2025 by the AHS Archivist.