NEW Bond Street auction house Bonhams will be holding an exhibition of early English clocks in September.

It will be a rare chance to clocks many of which are are being made available by two private collectors.

The exhibition at the famous Mayfair auction house will also include contributions from the Science Museum, the Clockmakers’ Company and the Collection of the 5th Lord Harris from Belmont House, amongst others.

Richard Garnier, curator of the Innovation and Collaboration exhibition, explains, “In researching the exhibition – that displays the early development of the pendulum clock – I’ve discovered that, in England, clock case design and materials pre-dated cabinetmaking of the period. Clocks were the pinnacle of English fashion and featured expensive woods such as ebony and kingwood, leading the way in cabinet making.

“It seems that the common wisdom – that clock cases followed developments in the furniture trade – is wrong. It was in fact furniture that seems to have been influenced by clocks, as these new mechanical timepieces were the ultimate in designer technology and became leaders in the development of cabinetmaking.”

Innovation and Collaboration runs from Sept 3-14 at Bonhams, 101 New Bond Street.

BALFOUR Beatty is working on a brand new development of luxury apartments in Mayfair.

The international infrastructure group announced this week that it had been selected by Brockton Capital for the scheme at 60 Curzon Street and that work has already started.

The project, which is due for completion by 2020, will see 32 luxury apartments built with a south-facing courtyard garden, as well as a range of private 24 hour amenities.

Dean Banks, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Officer for UK Construction Services, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this key contract and to be part of 60 Curzon Street’s exciting development plans.

“Our selection to this project builds on our vast wealth of experience in delivering significant developments across the UK, including the No.1 Palace Street residential scheme overlooking Buckingham Palace.

“We look forward to continuing our work with Brockton Capital over the coming years, successfully delivering a new first-class residence and its associated facilities.”

The Curzon Street development site, which extends into Bolton Street, was previously the site of the Curzon Hotel until it was demolished in the 1930s in favour or a new block of flats which had the address 56 Curzon Street with the famous Mirabelle restaurant on the ground floor.

A MAYFAIR gallery is to host a new exhibition where the art is exclusively available to buyers using cryptocurrencies.

The House of Fine Art (HOFA)’s new exhibition will run for eight weeks in their Maddox Street gallery, close to Hanover Square, before moving to Hollywood.

HOFA has teamed up with digital platform Uphold to handle payments in eight crypto currencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dash (DASH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), XRP (XRP).

Pieces of work by artists including Zhuang Hong Yi, Richard Orlinski and Hunt Slonem will feature in the 2 month long exhibition.

A HOFA spokesperson told Forbes magazine: “We had already experienced great demand for transactions to be made with bitcoin and wanted to expand on this. We talked to Uphold and knew straight away that this was an opportunity too good to pass by. At the moment, digital currencies are becoming commonplace among a wide array of savvy consumers, providing a seamless, and cost-effective method to exchange value globally.”

HOFA is at 58 Maddox Street.

THE FORMER Mayfair home of designer Alexander McQueen is up for sale.

The 2/3 bedroom penthouse apartment in Dunraven Street, close to Grosvenor Square, has been listed with agents Fine & Country with an asking price of £6,000,000.

McQueen died at the Grade II listed townhouse in 2010. Following the designer’s death by hanging, the property was split into two.

Author PG Wodehouse also previously lived at the property.