The Journal is published quarterly and sent to each member.
In general there are around 80 pages of articles and 25 pages of advertisements which are often an education in themselves.
It is printed to a high standard on coated paper, with many superb quality colour and black & white illustrations.
The front cover shows a detail of one of a series of clocks by the Scottish artist Ruth Ewan that were installed during the 2011 Folkestone Triennial. The clock told decimal time, with reference to developments in post-Revolution France. In his forthcoming AHS London lecture in May, Matthew Shaw will address this very subject, and the complete ten-hour dial is seen in the announcement of his lecture. Photo Steve Wilde.
This issue completes the publication of the proceedings of the van Call clock symposium held at the British Museum in October 2011:
Jan van Call and the age of the pendulum clock in the Netherlands, by Pier van Leeuwen (pages 33-41) Read this article here
The van Call, a modern forgery, by Sebastian Whitestone (pages 42-51)
Some thoughts on the van Call, by Terence Cuss (pages 52-53)
The van Call clock symposium final discussion (pages 54-59)
There are the following articles and notes:
The Pace family of Quaker clockmakers
by David Pace (pages 60-71)
Summary: The aim of this article is to discuss the four generations of Pace clockmakers and to show some examples of their work. The majority of the Pace timepieces were produced between 1780 and 1850 in two unremarkable shop premises with living accommodation at 128 Whitechapel High Street, London and 19 Abbeygate Street, Bury St Edmunds. Both buildings remain today in almost their original form. When I asked a clock collector what he knew about the Pace clockmakers he replied that ‘there were loads of them’. This article should enable a more specific answer to be given.
The mercurial chronometer balances of Edward Thomas Loseby
by Phillip Arnott (pages 72-87)
Summary: In the mid-nineteenth century, E.T. Loseby developed what was probably the most successful form of auxiliary compensation to overcome the errors inherent in chronometer balances. His chronometers performed extremely well in trials and were sent on some of the most demanding and exciting voyages of exploration. In this article his balance and those of his contemporaries are explained. The trials of Loseby’s chronometers and his efforts to obtain recognition are examined. Examples of his balances and the details of some of his chronometers are presented.
Of clocks and cats
by Richard Dunn and Eóin Phillips (pages 88-94)
Summary: One of the anniversaries to look forward to in 2014 is the tercentenary of the first British Longitude Act of 1714. As a taster, this article presents two horological tales that have emerged from work currently being done in the run-up to events that will take place at Royal Museums Greenwich. They illustrate some of the rich information relating to the history of the British Board of Longitude that will be made publicly available over the next couple of years.
Notes:
Reflections on sixty years of ‘the journal', by John Plowman (pages 100-101)
Rare features on a clock by Jacobus Nauta by Anton Vos (pages 102-103)
Chronometer ‘Dent 1978’ at Aberdeen by John Reid (pages 104-106)
The issue totals 144 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Picture Gallery, Book Reviews, AHS News, Letters to the Editor and Further Reading.
from Volume 33
The front cover shows the dial at All Saints Church at West Acre, Norfolk, dated c. 1908. Instead of hour numerals, it has the first three words of Christ’s command ‘Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak’ (Matthew 26:41). Photo Chris McKay.
This issue contains five articles and two notes.
The Wall Clock Dated 1657, Signed Jan van Call
by David Thompson (pages 739-761)
Summary: This article, based on a talk given at a symposium held at the British Museum in 2011, offers a detailed presentation of a clock bought at auction by the Science Museum in 1986. It is controversial, as not everyone thinks it is genuine. If it is, it could be the earliest known timepiece controlled by a pendulum made to Christiaan Huygens’ design.
The Screws in the van Call Clock
by M T Wright (pages 762-774)
Summary: In this article, based on his talk given at a symposium held at the British Museum, the author presents a study of the screws found in a wall clock, signed Jan van Call, the authenticity of which has been questioned. His analysis of the dimensions and appearance of the screws presents interesting insights, but he stresses that these findings alone cannot indicate whether or not the clock is genuine.
Leonardo da Vinci and the Earliest Known Clock with Warned Striking
by John A. Robey (pages 775-785)
Summary: An important drawing by Leonardo da Vinci of the striking work of a weight-driven domestic clock is discussed in detail, especially its depiction of warned striking. An iron Gothic clock with a similar arrangement is illustrated. Comparisons are made with other known early clocks with warned striking, as well as the uniquely English method of flail locking used on some turret clocks. Although in use at about the same time, flail locking had limited application and did not develop into the system that became almost universal.
Daniel Quare 324
by Terence Camerer Cuss (pages 786-790)
Summary: An important, but apparently unrecorded, early eighteenth century watch having independent rack quarter strike and repeat trains and jewelling to the verge and escape wheel pivots.
An Unmarked 8-Day Time and Striking Spring Driven Movement
by Peter Gosnell (pages 791-798)
Summary: In 1842 Chauncey Jerome sent his first consignment of brass clocks to England from New Haven, Connecticut. A few years later the Anglo-American clock trade was born with Connecticut manufactured movements being sent over to Britain to be cased-up into English made cases. This article features an unmarked 8-day movement with unusual rack and snail striking found in an Anglo-American styled drop dial case. This movement was probably made in England, circa 1870, and incorporates both English and American design influences. It may well have been a prototype for an intended production model.
Notes:
‘Big Ben - New Discoveries Part 2’ by Chris McKay (pages 799-802)
‘Joseph Knibb’s Roman Striking’ by Mike Cowham (pages 803-805)
The issue totals 144 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Book Reviews, AHS News, Letters to the Editor and For Your Further Reading. AHS London Lecture Series 2013.
Instead of a short article from this issue being made available for viewing, Horological News is offered this time.
The front cover shows a clock-maker in his workshop, as depicted on an 18th-century Dutch magic lantern slide, discussed in the Picture Gallery. Photo © Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden.
The issue contains five articles:
Horology At International Industrial Exhibitions, 1851-1900
by Alun C. Davies (pages 591-608)
Summary: After the success of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, London, in 1851, belief grew that other international industrial exhibitions would promote economic development. The idea spread through Europe, North America and reached Australia in the late 1870s. Governments and businessmen collaborated to stage exhibitions, large and small, hoping that they would symbolise peace and bring tourism and beneficial exchanges of information and ideas. Above all, exhibitions might stimulate trade and develop new markets. Clock and watch making firms in the leading horological countries participated. Occasionally their involvement was spasmodic and reluctant; other times it was enthusiastic and efficient. The horological displays from Britain, France, Switzerland and the United States offered snapshots of their various strengths and weaknesses. Waltham’s exhibits in Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878) and Melbourne and Sydney (1879-80) illustrate how exhibitions not merely offered opportunities to compare different clocks and watches; they were also arenas for pursuing new marketing techniques. By the end of the century national commercial rivalries shaped the composition of and participation in these events.
Moorfields and Clock-Brass Founders Part 2: The Mayor Family and Other Founders
by John A. Robey (pages 609-623)
Summary: Casting marks are sometimes found on brass clock components, the most frequently found examples probably being identified with the Mayor foundry in Little Moorfields. John Mayor was casting clock parts in the late seventeenth century and his descendants continued the trade for over a century. As well as discussing this and other founders, the ‘matchstick man’ casting mark found on London lantern clocks from the 1640s is also considered. For the background to the Moorfields area of London, where most of the people mentioned here worked, readers should refer to Part 1 of this article.
The History of Arnold & Dent Long Case Regulator No 308
by David Hambleton (pages 624-630)
Summary: This article describes the long case regulator number 308 made by the famous partnership of Arnold and Dent and the author’s research into its history. Surviving records of E. Dent & Company reveal that the regulator was located in the Chronometer Room of Dent in the Strand. Prior to this the clock was located in Oxford where it appears to have had a distinguished history as the Transit Clock for the Radcliffe Observatory at the University of Oxford.
Horological Requests in Early Welsh Poems
by William Linnard & Ann Parry Owen (pages 631-636)
Summary: Cywyddau gofyn (request poems) form a significant genre in medieval and early modern Welsh literature, and a few of these poems contain material that is of horological interest. Hitherto quite unknown to horologists, two of these Welsh poems are here translated for the first time, and assessed as regards their importance for the literature and history of horology.
God Save the King. The Automaton Ship and Silver Shagreen Case Read this article here.
by Brittany Cox (pages 637-642)
Summary: The West Dean College Conservation of Clocks and Related Dynamic Objects Department received a small musical automaton movement for conservation work in October 2011. The owner requested a case be made for it and the mechanism be restored to working order. Consultation with English and European conservators, museums and collectors, and a literature review, revealed no knowledge of any other object of this type. For her work on this object, the author was awarded the AHS Prize for 2012.
The issue totals 144 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Picture Gallery, Book Reviews, AHS News, Letters to the Editor and For Your Further Reading.
The front cover shows a detail from an advertising card issued by Stainton of Birmingham; the complete card is reproduced and discussed in Picture Gallery in this issue.
The issue contains four articles and three notes:
The Antiquarian Horological Society. An Early History
by James Nye (pages 457-468)
Summary: As the AHS moves towards its sixtieth anniversary, thoughts naturally turn towards how a further sixty years might be assured. In considering how best to plan for that future, an understanding of the origins of the Society is valuable. This article draws on previous histories but delves further into original sources to provide a detailed account of the emergence of our Society.
William Leigh of Newton-le-Willows, clockmaker 1763-1824: Part 2
by Steve and Darlah Thomas (pages 469-478)
Summary: William Leigh (1763-1824) worked as a clockmaker in Newton-le-Willows, a small market town in Northwest England. The first part of this article discussed turret clocks which he made for churches and country houses in the region. In this second part we discuss four other products signed by him, three longcase clocks and a remarkable kaleidoscope.
Moorfields and Clock-Brass Founders Part 1: The London Horological Trades in Moorfields
by John A. Robey (pages 479-486)
Summary: This article outlines the development of the Moorfields area of London, just north of the ancient City walls. After the Great Fire in 1666 it grew from an area of open land into a hive of industry including a wide range of workers in the horological trades. The area was particularly noted for brass founders (considered in detail in Part 2) and one of the principal engravers of clock dials in the eighteenth century worked here. A list is included of all those known to have worked in the watch and clock trades in Moorfields.
The Synchronous Mains Revolution and ‘Time Gentlemen, Please’
by David Read (pages 487-492)
Summary: This article describes the arrival of an entirely new type of oscillator that was not even part of the clock itself, did not require an escapement and was to become commonplace in most homes and public places. The story is told in the context of the ringing of bells, a remarkable clockmaker, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages in pubs.
New Light on Jacob Lovelace
by Clive N. Ponsford (pages 493-500)
Summary: Jacob Lovelace (c. 1688-1755) was a talented clock and watchmaker working in Exeter. He is best known for his celebrated Exeter Clock, parts of which survive in Liverpool, and which was discussed in this journal in 1966. The writer provides further information on the family history of Jacob Lovelace and on the Exeter Clock. What inspired him to prepare this article was his discovery that Jacob Lovelace was also an accomplished print-maker; two portrait prints by him are discussed. Lovelace also advertised artificial magnets, and these too are touched upon.
Notes:
Terence Camerer Cuss, Camerer Cuss Datelines (pages 506-508)
Simon Kerby & Tom Meryon, An Intriguing Swinging Clock (pages 509-513)
Chris McKay, Big Ben - New Discoveries Part 1: Punch and the Bell (pages 514-517) Read this note here.
The issue totals 128 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Picture Gallery, Book Reviews, AHS News, Letters to the Editor and For Your Further Reading.
The front cover shows a rolling ball clock (German: Kugellaufuhr) by Johann Sayller of Ulm, circa 1630. The glass ball descends from right to left guided by zig-zagging wire tracts. The painting of astronomers contemplating a celestial sphere is under a glass plate over which the ball runs. Six Kugellaufuhren are known of which two are by Sayller. Photo Sebastian Whitestone.
The issue contains four articles:
William Leigh of Newton-le-Willows, clockmaker 1763-1824 : Part 1
by Steve and Darlah Thomas (pages 311-334)
Summary: William Leigh (1763-1824) worked as a clockmaker in Newton-le-Willows, a small market town in north-west England. The first and longest part of this article discusses turret clocks which he made for churches and country houses in the region. The second part will discuss four other products signed by him, three longcase clocks and a kaleidoscope.
A Large European Iron Chamber Clock
by John A. Robey (pages 335-346)
Summary: A large weight-driven iron chamber clock is discussed. It originally had trains of only two wheels. Changes to the balance escapement and motion-work have resulted in the dial being repainted to read counter-clockwise. Analysis of the paint indicates a date prior to 1650 and a name on the frame suggests a Polish origin.
The Chimerical English Pre-Huygens Pendulum Clock
by Sebastian Whitestone (pages 347-358)
Summary: Although the putative existence of an English pendulum clock before Huygens’ invention appears widely entertained by historians and curators of horology in the UK, it is based on a long series of misapprehensions and contrary to unanimous historical accounts.
A Time-Telling Telescope
by Richard Dunn and Lavinia Maddaluno (pages 359-362) Read this article here.
Summary: In 1938, the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich acquired a highly decorated telescope with watch that has become one of its treasures. Some of the initial claims about its provenance have since been shown to be inaccurate, but the context in which such pieces found their way to China in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is worth exploring.
The issue totals 144 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Book Reviews, AHS News (including full proceedings of the first AHS London meeting held at the new venue, the Royal Astronomical Society at Burlington House, Piccadilly, on 19 January 2012), Letters to the Editor and For Your Further Reading.
The front cover shows the Reform movement (diameter with its cover on 60mm) of a clock illustrated and discussed in the article ‘The Electric Remontoire’ in this issue. In this final form it remained in production until the late 1960s, by which time the transistor made the electric remontoire with its mechanical contact systems obsolete. Photo David Read.
The issue contains five articles and two notes:
The Missing ‘Harrison’ Table Clock
by William Andrewes and Bob Frishman (pages 180-189)
Summary: Ever since its description and illustration appeared in the 1940 sale catalogue of an antique furniture dealer in New York, a table clock signed ’John Harrison’ and dated 1765 has remained an enigma. Was it genuine? Most experts doubted its authenticity, but its gridiron pendulum, which can be seen through the glass in the front door, was of a curious design, and the illustration was really not clear enough to tell for certain. The unexpected reappearance of this clock in April 2011 has finally solved this 71-year-old mystery. William Andrewes wrote the article and collaborated on the captions with Bob Frishman, who took the photographs.
The Electric Remontoire
by David Read (pages 190-198) Read this article here.
Summary: This article discusses electrical self-winding of an otherwise traditional clock. It starts with the moving coil method as exemplified in the clocks of Paul Garnier at the beginning of the twentieth century and then deals in turn with the pivoted armature systems of Perret Fils et Cie, Leon Schmid et Cie, and Schild et Cie.
Design and Precision of a Small Eight-Day Chronometer by Barraud
by A.D. Stewart (pages 199-206)
Summary: This article examines a small eight-day chronometer by Barraud, dating from the period 1814-1820, taken in and reissued unmodified by the firm of Dent in 1846. Special attention is given to its precision and accuracy, shown to be comparable with the best nineteenth-century chronometers. The characteristic errors for observed daily, weekly and monthly rates are 0.25 s, 4.0 s and 9 s, respectively.
On Excursions and on Song : The BHI Views New Technology in the 1870s and 1880s
by Alun C. Davies (pages 207-220)
Summary: In the 1870s and 1880s members of the British Horological Institute, and students at the Institute’s school, broadened their horizons and enjoyed a number of excursions. Their visits – and some by the Editor - were reported in the trade’s magazine, the Horological Journal. Some excursions were to leading firms and places of obvious horological interest; others were to companies which were adopting some of the new machines and methods of the ‘American system of manufacturing’. For a few years an Horological Club, with musical evenings, thrived at their new headquarters. These activities throw light on aspects of London’s horological industry at a time when it was in decline.
Clocks of Pasteboard
by Anthony Turner (pages 221-226)
Summary: Clocks made of pasteboard enjoyed a short period of popularity at the end of the nineteenth century, but had already been described in the seventeenth. The two episodes are here described and illustrated.
Notes: ‘Watch Lorgnettes’ by Neil Handley – pp. 227-231, and ‘Further Notes on Jourdain Clocks’ by Neil Andrew – pp. 232-233.
The issue totals 128 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Book Reviews, AHS News, Letters to the Editor and For Your Further Reading.
The front cover shows the movement of a month-going regulator from the Seeberg Observatory in Gotha, Germany, made about 1786 by Johann Andreas Klindworth (1742–1813), Göttingen, maker of astronomical instruments. This clock, discussed and illustrated in Jürgen Ermert’s contribution in this issue, closely copies a John Arnold clock. It is a striking example of how German makers copied English regulators, a subject to be addressed in a forthcoming book by Mr Ermert.
Photo © Deutsches Museum Munich
The issue contains four articles:
Clock and Watchmaking In Belgium, 1300 – 1830
by Eddy Fraiture and Paul van Rompay (pages 27-45)
Summary: This is the somewhat edited and annotated text of the Dingwall-Beloe lecture, delivered by the authors under the same title at the British Museum on 29 November 2010.
Constant Force Chronometer, No. 1 Attributed to Paul Garnier
by Phillip Arnott (pages 46-69)
Summary: In this article an investigation is made to determine the maker of a French box chronometer, c.1840, which has a constant force escapement. A review of constant force escapements is given, followed by a description of the chronometer and its escapement. French makers are examined for their possible involvement with this piece and attention is focussed on Paul Garnier (1801‒1869). His constant force escapements are examined and the reasons for attributing this chronometer to him are explained.
Astronomical Clocks in Observatories of the World and their Makers, 1670-1850. A Modified List
by Jürgen Ermert (pages 70-88)
Summary: In 1986, Commander Derek Howse published a list of the main instruments of permanent astronomical observatories operational between 1670 and 1850, with an amendment published eight years later. For the benefit of members of the AHS, he then published the horological entries from this list in this journal, introducing 318 clocks from 105 different clockmakers; for this list, too, an amendment was published.
Recently a detailed survey of clocks in German observatories from c.1730 to 1840 was made by the present author, which inspired him to prepare the modified list presented here. The list follows the same format as Howse’s, with the information given in three columns: dates when the clock is known or thought to have been in use; location(s) where the clock was used; current location of the clock.
Thomas Hampson ‘of Wrexham’ - his Chester phase
by Steve and Darlah Thomas (pages 89-96) Read this article here.
Summary: Thomas Hampson (1690s?–1755) is known as a prolific clockmaker based in Wrexham, North Wales during the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Before that, he worked for an unknown number of years during the 1720s in nearby Chester across the English border. This Chester phase has escaped the focus of horologists, as few examples of his work during this brief period survive.
Since 2000, three longcase clocks from his Chester phase have come to light. One of these was discovered only very recently and has an interesting provenance. It is a fine example of provincial clockmaking, but possesses features more usually seen on London clocks.
Picture Gallery (pages 97-101) presents an interesting thirty-hour clock c.1745 signed J P
The issue totals 144 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour. It contains five book reviews, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, AHS News, Letters to the Editor and For Your Further Reading.