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.