Clock of the day (2)

From the Far East comes this clock, made by the S. Kato clock company. Are any of you familiar with this name?

The most obvious feature of interest here is the dial. It is marked out in twelve hours with Chinese characters, but on the inside is a second set of hours, twenty four hours in Roman numerals, I to XII twice. Yes, the hour hand turns once in 24 hours like the Chinese ship's clock... but that's not all. The minute hand turns once in two hours... or once in each "Oriental hour". So the minute hand is at the top on the hour, as long as it's an even-numbered hour. If it's an odd-numbered hour the minute hand is at the bottom. So, reading this clock takes thought and practice! The movement is a very ordinary looking American-style open mainspring movement, striking hours but not half hours, and with a front-mounted escapement. The story I was told is that the American factories (Seth Thomas, W.L. Gilbert, New Haven etc.) sold their tools and manufacturing equipment to companies in China and Japan, who continued to use them well into the 20th century. I believe there are movements of the American pattern still in production in China, and also in India, but now only in conventional 12 hour format.

I had to remake this dial on cardboard as it was so worn, but I don't feel that my card dial detracts from the clock. The original (or what's left of it) is still there underneath. And the time shown is... 6:20PM!

Clicking any of my photos will open a supersized version.

Clock of the day

It is always important to take a second look at something which appears mundane. This is a fairly ordinary looking alarm clock, albeit with Hebrew numerals. At one time, dial numerals were either Roman or Arabic, but nowadays there are so many different dial styles out there that even this dial might fail to grab immediate attention. The most intriguing feature of this clock is that it goes anticlockwise! It is not immediately apparent unless you know Hebrew numbers, which I'm afraid I don't. However, this clock had a going train which was wound clockwise from the rear of the clock, and it indicates the time in the true Hebrew fashion. I suspect that most modern clocks with Hebrew numerals are designed to go clockwise. The only one I know of with a traditional anticlockwise dial is a large public clock in Prague. The time shown on my alarm clock is therefore 3:37! It confused me every time I had to adjust the time on it, and I was forever getting it wrong!

Clock of the day

This item is interesting for the movement. It is a "TSOL 1", the product of an unknown British manufacturer. I have seen several of these clocks over the years so they seem to be quite prolific. However I have so far been unable to identify the maker... I wonder if any of you know the history of the TSOL1? The unusual steel mountings appear to be original, as I have seen two or three clocks with these same steel mounts. The pendulum bob is solid lead and uncoated, and the plates and wheels are massive. I'm certain that this movement could drive very large hands. It may have been intended for dial clocks in the early post-fusee period, and surplus movements may have been sold to mantel clock manufacturers. I can't think of any other reason why ordinary looking mantel clocks would have such huge timepiece movements.

Click my photos to see them bigger!

Clock of the day (7)

I think this can be my last upload for tonight. I actually bought this one brand new. It was made in China by an unnamed company. It is a strange mixture of qualities. The 15 day platform-lever movement is of exceptionally high quality, and bears a great resemblance to the British Coventry Astral, although I don't believe there is any direct connection. China has been building ship's clocks with 24 hour dials since... well, perhaps before World War 2. This may simply be a new production run of that same movement.

The case is spun brass and the bezel appears to be cast brass. The whole case is lacquered, and the quality is not consistent throughout. There is a tiny flaw in the bezel, but this is not normally noticeable. The glass is actually perspex, which is a bit of a shock given the quality of the movement. However, the worst thing was the dial. The dial you see here is a replacement... the original was an inkjet printout on some kind of translucent plastic, stuck onto a metal dial-back which had two profound creases in it. The printed dial had streaks where the print head was dirty, and the image of the dial (probably a photocopy of an old clock dial) was blurred and too dark. On a brand new clock! So I decided to make my own replacement dial! It involved a photocopy of a normal clock dial, some Tippex, Microsoft Word, a font called Haettenschweiler, a pair of scissors, and some Pritt stick... oh and a photocopier! The finished dial is on silver card, and the only fault is that the numerals are slightly grey. I presume this is beacuse of the type of surface on the cardboard. But I'm pleased with it! I can't remember how much I paid for the clock but I remember thinking it was a bargain.

Clock of the day (6)

This was a giant. I don't know where it is now, but I hope it's in a setting where it looks more appropriate than it did in my bathroom. Made in Germany, it is a product of Telefonbau & Normalzeit, otherwise known as TN. It is a solid metal clock with brass hands like canoe paddles. The clock was over 40cm in diameter, with a numberless dial on two levels with solid brass batons to mark the hours. The movement was a large self-winding unit with a jewelled lever escapement. Winding was done by a large electromagnet which would hit a barbell shaped winding lever in the centre which wound the spring. I think the reason why I got rid of it was the noise. Every four minutes or so there would be a loud clank as it wound itself up. Everything about this clock was big and impressive. I don't think this clock was meant for a home setting... it must have been designed for a hotel reception area or something.


Now that I cast my mind back, I remember what the sound reminded me of. You know these extremely heavy elaborate levers inside a Comtoise clock that release the striking? It's the exact same sound as one of those. A sort of "kerlankle".

Comments

Comments on clocks are always welcome here. I intend this to be a site where the clocks I have uploaded may stimulate discussion which will be of benefit to the blog community. However, comments on unrelated matters, political issues etc have no place here and will be removed.

Clock of the day (5)

From Soviet Russia comes the VESNA. The letters BECHA are Russian equivalents of VESNA. This clock is interesting for highlighting the methods used in the Eastern bloc countries. There is a mixture of qualities. The painted dial with the unique old Slavic numerals is beautiful, as are the slender steel hands. The 14 day timepiece movement is brass with a steel going barrel, and there is a platform lever escapement. Russian watch factories got the second hand machinery from Swiss watch factories and they produce top quality stuff. Russian factories have produced top quality movements for military aircraft clocks as well as watches to rival anything from Switzerland at a fraction of the price. Here, the Vesna is doing well. However, the case is dire. Roughly sawn from plywood with next to no smoothing of the rough edges, it is obvious that production costs were being kept to a minimum. The movement housing is a plastic drum with a fake wood-like finish. However, the overall appearance is not unpleasing and the clock keeps excellent time. The die cast metal winding key (also used for time-setting) is stored inside the case on a small mount near the top. The platform lever escapement is protected by a soft plastic cover.

Another interesting fact is that front and rear plates are identical. The arrows and lettering on the backplate are also found on the inside of the frontplate. The saving of costs has led to some very ingenious measures.

Click my photos to see them bigger!

Clock of the day (4)

The fourth item for today is from Germany. Made by (or for) Dugena, it is a porcelain kitchen clock with an eight day timepice movement. It is the pendulum suspension however which is the interesting part here. It is difficult to see in the photos, but the pendulum is actually suspended from a sliding metal bar which is linked to the clock's hanging loop! That means when you take the clock down off the wall the pendulum is no longer suspended and lies loose in the case, potentially causing damage to the suspension spring. The hanging loop itself is on a hook and can become detached... another risky feature. If the idea was to prevent damage to the clock caused by moving it with the pendulum attached, I don't think this was the best way to go about it. However, it is interesting and rare! Also, note that the main wheel is at the 3 position although the winding square is at 6. It seems that the manufacturers deemed it necessary or safer for winding to be done clockwise, thus the extra gear wheel. All this despite the fact that there have always been (and probably always will be) clocks made with anticlockwise winding.

Of particular interest is the pendulum bob with it's markings for regulation, one of those typical German techno-touches which make their clocks particularly fascinating.

Clock of the day (3)

The third item for today is also from France. It is the product of an unknown company. The cast iron case had been sprayed a gaudy shade of gold which was meant to resemble the typical French gilt finish. Ahem. The movement however is the interesting bit. It is a thirty hour striking movement with a short tic-tac pendulum. I had to replace the mainspring when I bought it, as the original one had broken. To my disappointment, I discovered that the new spring, a thirty hour alarm clock spring adapted for barrel mounting, would only run the clock for about twelve hours. This is a pitfall of the going barrel system... mainspring diameter becomes a crucial factor in determining how much mainspring is available to drive the clock. I then got another old alarm spring, from one of those near-unserviceable alarm clocks which uses both ends of the mainspring to drive both time and alarm from one barrel... and finally got the clock to go for a whole day. However, if it kept time in the first few hours it would be at least twenty minutes slow by the time it was due to be rewound, such was the barrel's restrictive effect on the spring's energy. Also, the clock struck whatever hour it felt like and sometimes didn't bother striking at all. The movement was out of it's case, fixed, and reinstalled almost on a daily basis, until I finally had enough and sold it. I still think I should have persevered, but I might never have sorted the mainspring issue. Perhaps the tic-tac escapement was part of the problem. I do wonder however if there are others of this type out there? I have seen identical cases with rear-winding eight-day lever timepiece movements.

Clock of the day (2)

To get this site started off in style, I'm uploading a few clocks today. This one is from the French company FFR. It is a calendar clock from the 1950s, operated by two "D" type 1.5volt batteries. The case is wood with a formica front. The calendar mechanism consists of a motorised roller system with a long paper roll bearing every date from the 1st of March to the 29th of February. This is activated very noisily at midnight every night, and every year on the 1st of March it has to rewound all the way to the beginning! At least the process is motorised...

The movement part is also interesting. It is of typical high quality French construction, with finely cut wheels, solid pinions, and a platform lever escapement. The auto-winding system is performed by a swivelling magnet which travels between the poles of a horse-shoe electromagnet. In fact this is more like a motor rewind than a kick rewind, although the motor in this case can only rotate about 45 degrees.

I have seen kitchen clocks offered for sale on the Internet with this same type of movement. It would seem that many movements which were commonplace in their country of origin were rare or even unknown in the UK, an aspect of clock collecting which has come about solely as a result of the global village. There are indeed great discoveries to be made out there but in many cases it requires a second look. The name FFR itself may have been unknown in the UK. Another clock with this name will be featured later... being the subject of a desperate quest for parts.

The calendar clock featured here seems to be a rare model. I have only ever seen one more FFR clock with this calendar system.

Clock of the day

This clock is made from bakelite, and has no maker's name or country of origin anywhere on it. I owned it for a few years and sold it about two years ago. I suspect it is Japanese, particularly by the style of numerals. It has a very basic, almost crude, 30 hour weight driven movement wound by a chain. It has no pendulum suspension, instead it has what I term a "flick pendulum", which simply hangs on the end of the crutch. The pallets move in a jerk rather than swinging smoothly, so there is a huge amount of error. The chain is fixed bizarrely to both top and bottom of the driving weight in a loop. Despite it's atrocious timekeeping I particularly liked this clock, but it had to go, as funds were tight...

Welcome to my website!

My name is Tommy Wylie, I live in Orkney (Scotland, UK) and I am a keen collector of clocks. I have studied clocks since I was old enough to say "Mam, what time is it?". Over the years, I have bought and sold a huge number. I have rebuilt ones from near-dead and I have sometimes made new clocks out of bits which were never intended to be compatible. However, I don't intend to stop gathering clocks and describing them here in detail for the benefit of all who visit. I hope that through this site, light can be shed on obscure items, and clocks which have been thought of as trivial can be examined in greater depth. I have found many fascinating items which needed a second look! I aim that this site will reveal some overlooked gems as well as discussing the more commonplace. Hopefully the discussions and discoveries will be of interest and benefit to clock enthusiasts everywhere!