Recent Meetings

Meeting reports for previous years:  2018  2017   

Tools    (November 2019)
Devotees of tools, horological and otherwise would have been in their element at our November meeting when a huge variety of tools ancient and modern were displayed for discussion. Whilst some were familiar to many members, others were rare examples of watch and clockmakers’ tools. Gary Burns set the scene with a copy of the catalogue created by the Section in 1993 to accompany its exhibition of horological tools held at Prescot Museum, see below. (Click here to download the catalogue). Images of a very small sample of the items on display at the meeting are available below.

Some of the tools which were displayed at our November meeting. Most were for watch or clockmakers but amongst them were some which were clearly not of a horological nature, including a bull’s nose puncher complete with rings!

Exhibition catalogue for an exhibition entitled Tools of the Trade which was organised by the Section and held at Prescot Museum. (Click image to download catalogue)

A mid nineteenth century watchmaker’s micrometer by Moritz Grossmann of Glashütte which showed measurements in hundredths of a millimetre or thousands of an English inch.

50th Anniversary celebrations (September 2019)
To celebrate the Northern Section’s 50th Anniversary, 26 members and guests gathered at Lyme Park on 25th September for a full day of horology.  After refreshments, a talk was given by Duncan Greig on the unnumbered Tompion marquetry longcase.which has recently been added to the display in the Clock Room at Lyme Hall.

After lunch, Jonathan Betts spoke on the lengthy process he undertook to create his book, Marine Chronometers at Greenwich. A catalogue of Marine Chronometers at the National Maritime Museum, Creenwich. This tome has been meticulously produced to provide every detail horologists could ever require on this subject.

James Nye followed with a dramatisation of his researches into the history of clockmaker and gardener Edmund Howard of Chelsea. This is fully recorded in his article in Antiquarian Horology (Vol 38, Issue 4, December 2017, pages 513-532).

A brief outline of the Section’s history was followed by a celebratory dinner ; thanks were offered to Lyme’s staff who had looked after us so well and Chairman Gary Burns thanked members past and present for their contributions and support during the Section's first 50 years.

AHS Northern Section members, guests and speakers with Amy Carney, House & Collections Manager at Lyme Hall.

Understanding the success of American clocks in the British market from 1842 – 1880  (August 2019)
Our speaker for the August meeting was American clock enthusiast John Taylor. His talk was highly informative and was accompanied by excellent illustrations and a display of many of the clocks mentioned in his talk. John outlined the key factors in the success of American clocks in this country, including their variety, design, value for money and the American ‘modern’ approach to marketing. This included their frequently issued illustrated catalogues which exhibited their ranges aimed at an emerging, untapped working class market. John summarised all the styles of movement and case design by putting them into a detailed chronology.
 

July 1842 - the American clock story in Britain begins with Chauncey Jerome's first export shipment containing his own weight-driven, Ogee and Empire Column clocks & Brewster & Ingrahams, brass spring, Beehive & Steeple clocks.

The beautiful JC Brown 'prototype', compound arm, 'Acorn' clock of circa 1846

The Americans knew that spring fusee clocks were popular in Britain; but surely putting a fusee on the alarm, as well as the time and strike, is overkill (Chauncey Boardman triple fusee Steeple clock of 1847)

The Untold Story of British Jerome (June 2019)
Peter Gosnell spoke on the history of British Jerome clocks. These were imported in large numbers into Liverpool from New Haven, Connecticut from the mid nineteenth century for about one hundred years. Research has uncovered that by 1908 J.C. Plimpton of Liverpool had become sole agents in England, initially importing American manufactured movements to install into their own cases. Soon Plimpton began to make modifications to some components to suit English tastes. Labels on these clocks described them as ‘British Jerome Movements’. After WWl, trademark ‘Plimclox’ clocks which had patented components styled specially for the UK market were manufactured and sold here until 1932.

The ‘Boxclock’ had a British Jerome movements label; the backplate was stamped ‘Trade Mark’ and ‘British Manufacture’ despite having been made in America.

Tambour cased clock with British Jerome movements label. It has patent fixing bushes, New Haven escapement and a Plimpton bob.

Shelf clock with British Jerome movement label, horse-shoe pendulum post extension, double ended pillars and a New Haven type fly.

A Plimclox movement. The Plimclox trademark was registered on 2 October 1926. It was made for the British market with solid plates, mainspring in a barrel, and deadbeat pallets.

The Restoration of a George Pyke Organ Clock   April 2019
John Harrold gave a talk on his experience of restoring an organ clock with automata by George Pyke which was handed over to him in a disassembled state. The clock, with royal provenance, had been through the wars and had subsequently suffered an unsympathetic overhaul. Inappropriate materials and techniques had to be removed before the long process of identifying and restoring components began. John told us there were five similar clocks by this maker in the UK, but all were inaccessible to him for reference. A friend in Utrecht enabled John to study and photograph a Pyke clock there which enabled work to begin. Restoration and reassembly presented a series of complex challenges.

Bring & Discuss:    Letters U & V      February 2019
Members brought horological items linked to letters U or V to our February meeting.
Items included pocket watches by Victor Kullberg and BL Vulliamy, and a collection of thirteen verge pocket watches by different makers from several countries. A wristwatch made in the former USSR was bought for 1 million rubles thirty or so years ago. We were shown a deck watch by Ulysse Nardin, a marine chronometer from the USSR and two aircraft clocks from the same source. Domestic clocks were represented by two ‘unidentical twin’  table clocks by the same maker and a Becker ‘Vienna regulator’ dial and movement.

Watch by Victor Kullberg, signed and retailed by Alexander Bruce of Manchester. This 1869 gold pocket watch has an up and down dial below Xll to indicate the amount of wind left on the barrel.

Wristwatch made in The First Moscow Watch Factory (TFMWF) during the days of the USSR.

A TFMWF copy of a Swiss aircraft dashboard clock with subsidiary seconds stopwatch and a dial which recorded journey length.

A marine chronometer from the former USSR made at TFMWF. This post war model was still in production in the early 21st century.