OXFORDSHIRE BRANCH MEETING, October 2009

The meeting commenced with branch business with Geoff Carr re-iterating the arrangements for the auction including enlisting volunteers for the event on the 17th November at Steventon Village Hall. It was also agreed that the December meeting would be on the 15th at South Hinksey. Dave Hamer was asked to email members informing them that it will be a Bring & Show evening and the website will be updated.

Jeremy Barrow then introduced the speaker Ian Ford whose subject focussed on the table clock he made over a six-year period ending in 2002. The clock is now on display at the Worshipful Company’s museum in London, such is its importance. The clock featured in an article in the HJ in December 2007.

Ian described his early career and entry into horology via silversmithing and gemology in London. Today he lives in Shropshire. From jewellery he moved into horology via the BHI course at Hackney, although he described himself as self-taught which became clear when we saw the amazing complexity of the clock, which no course could have taught.

The clock is too complex to describe adequately here, particularly with this author’s limited technical ability, but it has two time dials, one for solar time and the other for sideral time. There are two seconds indicators for each time designation. The power comes from a single 8-pound weight, which falls one inch per day via an intricate, indeed complex, pulley system powering the two barrels. Sideral time is provided by the set of wheels known as the sideral transition, which feeds off the grasshopper escapement. The latter has ivory pallets. The pendulum is regulated at the top by a bespoke wedge, which can be inserted or withdrawn such that the whole pendulum rises or falls; this is done whilst the clock is going. “Winding” is carried out using a lever and clutch mechanism linked to the pulley system, as there is no winding arbor.

Ian said that about 3000 hours had gone into the making of the clock, which grew organically in complexity as it was being built. The clock was not made from a complete set of drawings. We then saw some slides of the equipment used to make the components of the clock. Professional and amateurs alike were awestruck at the complexity and quality of this beautiful timepiece and Richard Snelling spoke for us all in thanking Ian for his talk.

Martin Gatto