FINE ANTIQUE CLOCKS.
Established 1968.
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No.108.
TWO FINE QUALITY YEAR GOING CLOCKS.
For this first clock of the month of the New Year we have chosen to show the difference between the way in which English makers tackled long duration clocks and the way in which Viennese makers tackled the same problem. The two clocks chosen could not be more different in their looks and approach.
The Viennese clock is a year duration wall regulator by Wibral in Wien who was one of their most eminent early makers and specialised in long duration clocks. The English clock is a floor standing year duration regulator by J Smith & Sons, Clerkenwell.
The overall, and perhaps most important difference between the two clocks, is that the Viennese year duration clock is about a quarter the size of the English clock. The Viennese believed that the way to achieve long duration was to have relatively thin plates with a narrow separation coupled with very finely cut wheel work and fine pivots. These methods of construction were to reduce the friction and flexing within the gear train. In addition, for their long duration clocks they often used a very fine pinwheel escapement which is an accurate deadbeat escapement but which only requires a small amount of power. As you will see from the description on the Wibral clock this is exactly what they have done in this instance.
The Smith & Sons regulator is very different. It uses relatively thick plates and cocks and is a fine example of Victorian engineering at its best. It also appears at first glance to be far more robust although work that we have done on English and Viennese clocks, over the years, has shown that the amount of wear that takes place is probably less on the Viennese clocks, because of the smaller weights used.
The Viennese clocks has seven wheels in the train including the escape wheel, whereas the Smith & Sons clock has only four wheels. However, all four wheels are of huge size with many teeth which is how they have achieved the long duration.
The weight to drive the English clock is some two to three times heavier than those on the Viennese clock and indeed on some Viennese clocks they achieve year duration with an even lighter weight than this particular Wibral.
Both clocks are exceptional pieces and very rare, only you can decide which approach you prefer.
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2704 An extremely important early Viennese wall regulator of one year duration. The ebonised case of a style specific to this maker has a pedimented lift off hood with ogee mouldings to the pedimented roof and very fine carcase members to the glazed front and sides. The case then has a strong under curved and chamfered moulding to the trunk of the clock which is deeper than the hood. This has a large lift out door at the front and large glass panels to both sides. The case ends with an undercut curved moulding typical of Viennese wall clocks. The whole case is extremely narrow and elegant. The white enamel dial, signed for the maker ‘Wibral in Wien,’ has Roman numerals and finely wrought arrow shaped hands. There is a large seconds ring below 12 o’clock. The dial is enclosed within a bezel typical of Wibral with engine turning both to the front section and also a rim of engine turning on the side of the bezel. This type of bezel was almost always used by Wibral and we have only seen a similar bezel on one other makers clock. The year duration movement has seven wheels in the train. This is an exceptionally large number of wheels in a clock train and necessitates the finest of pivots and highly accurate wheel cutting which was difficult to achieve in the early 1800s. The clock has a very delicate deadbeat pinwheel escapement. It has a metal rod pendulum which is suspended on a knife edge which is gimballed and fully adjustable and mounted on the backplate of the clock. The pendulum has a polished brass bob and rating nut. The clock is driven by twin brass weights hanging from a yoke and pulley in a style almost always used by this maker. Height: 55" (140 cms.) |
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| The maker Mathias Wibral is one of the most famous of the early Viennese makers. He was particularly noted for making long duration clocks and a year duration clock by him in an almost identical case is in the Viennese Clock Museum in Vienna. His clocks were particularly distinctive and always of small proportions for such long duration clocks. In addition to the roof top clock like this one, he also made a very similar case style but with a flat top. Although he did make some clocks in mahogany a lot of his clocks are in ebonised cases and this particular case style looks particularly elegant when in a black case. |
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31385C.R A beautifully cased and very rare year duration longcase regulator. The case of a design straight from the Smith & Sons trade catalogue of 1865, takes the form of a very substantial inverted break front plinth with a moulded skirting and with block feet. The plinth has particularly fine flame veneers and is topped by a gadrooned concave moulding which supports the glazed trunk. The trunk itself has Corinthian fluted columns with ornate and beautifully carved capitals and bases and the top is finished with a domed wooden top, again with a beautifully carved frieze. The whole front of the clock lifts out to gain access to the weight, movement and pendulum and is locked in via a lock on the top of the case. The movement is mounted on a heavily carved buttressed plinth. The whole case is of the very finest quality. The year duration movement is quite exceptional, it only employs four wheels in the train, but the three main wheels are of extremely large proportions, the great wheel having 232 teeth and the other two wheels having 240 teeth each. They all act on ten leaf pinions. The plates are extremely thick and with very narrow separation to avoid flexing in the wheelwork and are held together by four massive double screwed pillars. The wheels have eight crossings and there is maintaining power. The deadbeat escapement with beat adjustment and the barrel which extends out of the back of the movement is held within a substantial bridge. The clock originally started life as a year duration clock, the configuration in which it now is, however at some stage it was obviously giving problems and the clockmaker at the time felt that it would be possible to improve its performance by reducing it to six months duration. It has therefore had a larger barrel made which was fixed over the original barrel. This has been kept with the clock as part of its history. The clock employs a mercury compensated pendulum with steel rod and steel stirrup holding the mercury jar which beats against a silvered beat plaque. The large driving weight runs down the left hand side of the clock. |
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The silvered brass dial has typical regulator layout with a large seconds ring at the top of the dial, the hour ring at the bottom of the dial and the minutes round the edge of the main dial. The clock is illustrated in "English Precision Pendulum Clocks" by Derek Roberts, page 235. Height: 6' 9" (206 cms.)
Smith & Sons of Clerkenwell were established in 1780 and became one of the most important manufacturers of clocks in the mid 19th century. They produced many fine clocks but this would have been one of their best productions and almost certainly the movement would have been especially commissioned from a fine clock or chronometer maker as it is very different to any of their standard movements, although the case is straight out of their catalogue. |
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