Crossword Genius

Clock mechanism S African fellows found in east of France (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

escapement

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'clock mechanism' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

's african fellows found in east of france' is the wordplay.
's african' becomes 'cape' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'fellows' becomes 'men' (fellow can mean a man).
'found in' is an insertion indicator.
'east of france' becomes 'est' ('east' in French).
'cape'+'men'='capemen'
'capemen' put inside 'est' is 'ESCAPEMENT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for escapement that I've seen before include "Part of A Clockwork" , "One-time flight" , "Part of watch mechanism" , "Clock or watch mechanism" , "piano piece" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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