2013 September meeting

THE BERESFORD HUTCHINSON MEMORIAL  LECTURE

The overhaul and servicing of complicated travelling and carriage clocks. 

RON ROSE FBHI

Our speaker this year needs no introduction to members of the South London branch BHI. But for those of you who are new to our membership my personal recollections of his quiet and unassuming achievements are as follows. Ron’s horological career started when a school careers officer placed two options in front of him over 50 years ago.

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A complicated carriage clock, shown for illustrative purposes only. Original image and catalogue entry for this clock can be found on the Antiquorum web archive. 

In Ron’s own words “thank heavens I was right-handed and chose horology” and at the tender age of 15 he took an apprenticeship with Thwaites and Reed; “the alternative would have been a typewriter engineer”. My first recollection of Ron was visiting the workshops above Strike One Islington in 1978. Already established as one of the top restoration businesses in London I appreciated the fine work displayed in the workshops. Learning of his recent publication of a book on English Dial Clocks I made it a priority in my Christmas list that year. I next saw Ron with his family exhibiting at the Clocks for Everyman exhibition 1980. Ron had to move his business from Islington and many of us have visited his shop on the junction of the Five Ways at 731 Sidcup Road, where he looked after the trade and public alike. Ron has always taken an active interest in the BHI helping his fellow horologist with work and advice when needed; he has trained three apprentices that I know of. In the 1990s he encouraged members of the South London branch to construct a skeleton clock at Upton Hall. This led on to setting up a workshop in 1998 for those individuals who wished to take part in the millennium project constructing their own skeleton clock. There were both professional and amateur alike working side-by-side revelling in the support that Ron gave them. The late Beresford Hutchinson was one of those members. For this Ron was awarded the BHI Barrett Silver Medal in recognition of his services to encourage the furtherance of horology. Ron’s own clock, his second, a month duration striking skeleton clock, is testament to his high standard. Ron has taken part in the Art in Action demonstrations, is a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and was part of the examining board of the BHI. I have nothing but a high regard for his skills and ability to overhaul some of the rarest carriage clocks that collectors and dealers have placed in his hands. Over the years I have observed the high quality and reliability of his work with complicated traveling and carriage clocks.

Ron is the driving force behind the South London branch and without his perseverance the current workshop would not have come to fruition. Ron still continues to impart the knowledge; skills and camaraderie he has done for many years with this lecture which will include minute repeating work, Grand Sonnerie repeating work, lunar work, perpetual calendar work, a short video presentation and the work of James Ferguson Cole.

D. Greig

2013 August meeting

MARION SMITH –  Researching 18th and 19th Century Lewes Clockmakers.

Pre-talk blurb:

Marion was born, and still lives in Lewes Sussex. She was first introduced to Lewes clockmakers when she visited the longcase clock exhibition convened by the late Michael Sautter, at the premises of Bill Bruce. The longterm storage of a longcase clock by John Holman of Lewes, belonging to her nephew, served as a perpetual reminder that there was some research to be done!

A Richard Comber clock dial showing his unusually refined style - from invaluable.com

A Richard Comber clock dial showing his refined style – from www.invaluable.com

 

Marion is a retired psychologist, with a post graduate qualification in social science research methods. Local history research is somewhat different. But there was enough common ground to give her the impetus to launch into the local archives, assisted by access to the books and extensive knowledge provided by Bill Bruce.

The talk will follow the course of her research into 5 significant Lewes clockmakers; considering starting points, sources, recording information, overcoming confusion and maintaining the accuracy of research findings.

2013 July meeting

The talk was a fascinating and enjoyable journey through an often overlooked area of horological history with great clocks and amazing instruments.
Pre-talk blurb:

CLOCKMAKING IN SOHO, BIRMINGHAM   DAVID HORNSEA      

Our Speaker will be David Hornsey from Frome in Somerset. David was trained in the scientific field of Biophysics and has a fine arts degree which he gained from studies at Southampton University. He then studied at the British Horological Institute’s course in Birmingham before taking his training further gaining a Diploma in antique clock restoration and conservation from West Dean College. He has an intense interest in Art and technological history.

SohoManufactory_1800

The title of his talk will be “Clockmaking in Soho, Birmingham” and will focus on the horological history of the mid-18th century to the early 20th. Paying particular attention to the clockmaking of Mathew Boulton of Soho House and the Lunar Men who spearheaded the Industrial Revolution. David will illustrate the progression of 19th century clockmaking with workmen like John Haughton and W F Evans who made many of the elaborate architectural skeleton clocks of the second half of this period. He will also address some of his other research into this fascinating period of the horological history.

2013 June meeting

SID LINES                                  WORKSHOP PRACTICE – HINTS AND TIPS

Lots of useful tips, presented with great clarity!!

 

Pre-talk blurb read:

This month’s talk is “Hints and Tips” it will have an Engineering slant to it, but will be useful to people that make clocks or clock parts on a regular basis.
The talk starts with a couple of Sid’s favourite gripes, followed by a section on some useful tips on the uses of a
lathe and cutters.
The second section is practical tips on how to get the best from a small milling machine like setting the machine and vice correctly plus some useful tips on cutter alignment.
The last part of the talk covers compression and tension spring making , drills and their uses plus some other odd
things to help in the workshop like pin making and flattening of metals etc.
Regulars at the South London Branch will remember Sid as chairman of the Kent branch. His engineering knowledge combined with his straight talking style will make an interesting and informative talk. I am sure we all will learn
something.

2013 May meeting

 

Clockmaking – Cornelia & George de Fossard

 

Cornelia and George de Fossard’s recently constructed miniature longcase clock appeared on the front cover of the February horological journal. Please join us as Cornelia and George take us on what promises to be a fascinating journey into modern-day clockmaking.

 

miniature-walnut-case

 

Cornelia served an apprenticeship to a carpenter and cabinet maker in Germany before heading to the UK to further her skills at West Dean college near Chichester. Now self-employed as a furniture restorer, she has an extensive range of of skills including carving, gilding and turning to mention just three.

 

George served a four year apprenticeship in mechanical engineering then went on to read Mechanical Design, Materials and Manufacture at the University of Nottingham. After a spell working in design engineering, he re-trained as a clockmaker at West Dean College.

 

George and Cornelia now run a business together based in Frome, Somerset specialising in the design and manufacture of fine quality handmade clocks. Cornelia also undertakes the conservation and restoration of early English furniture and clock cases.

 

 

 

2013 April meeting

Music Boxes and Automata – Ted Brown

Have you ever been fascinated by mechanical music automata or novelties?

It is most likely if you love clocks watches you will have come across such items either included in a musical clock or watch. Mechanical music has been celebrated and used long before the pendulum was introduced to horology.P6140753 (1)

Our speaker this month has taken his fascination for Mechanical Music boxes to a higher level. The highly respected Ted Brown has been collecting all of his life assembling a small museum of these Victorian artefacts. He will bring along a selection from his collection and talk to us on Music Boxes, Small Automata, and Novelties. Ted does not normally talk on his subject outside of his museum.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFollowing one of our visits last year, to a private collection of clocks music boxes and cars, Ted has offered to give us a guided tour of his collection at “The Victorian Music Room” later this year. Ted will discuss methods of restoration and repair and is happy to answer any technical questions we may have.

2013 March meeting

Our March meeting was somewhat of a break from the norm, with a series of practical demonstrations from a number of branch members. Thanks to the wonders of technology, the demonstrations were (almost entirely) projected onto a large screen for the audience’s convenience.

An artist's impression of the March meeting

 

Demonstrations:

Maurice Fagg – a video demonstration of re-pivoting a watch pinion

Duncan Grieg – turning on the clockmakers’ throw

James Marten – using a clock mainspring winder

Ron Rose – using the piercing saw

Alan White – the construction and use of an electronic dividing tool

2013 February meeting – Thwaites & Reed

 

Our last meeting was given by Mr John Warner from Burgess Hill a member of the Sussex branch of the BHI and the AHS.

 

John comes from a chemical engineering background and lived in Rhodesia working for subsidiaries of Fisons and ICI.  He served in both the Rhodesian Air Force and the Rhodesian Army against Robert Mugabe.  Relocating to England in the 1980’s he has been a Company Director and a Management Consultant. He turned his horological interests from a hobby to a vocation and he is now a full-time watch and clock restorer.  In association with Thwaites and Reed, has worked professionally on some very famous clocks.

 

 

2013 January Meeting

The Greenwich Time Ball  Douglas Bateman

The time ball talk will cover the invention of the ‘instantaneous signal’ by Captain Wauchope leading to its construction in 1833, followed over the years, by many modifications. Douglas will bring us up to date describing his installation of electronic control in 1991 and now with a radio controlled clock that gives automatic changes to summer time and back.

Douglas has been involved with precision timekeeping since building a regulator with photoelectric ‘escapement’ and circular error control. The led to the use of the time signals from Rugby and publication of articles about the clock and the importance of a term called Quality Factor, Q, which related accuracy to the property of the oscillator.

His current project is to write a comprehensive history of the Greenwich Time ball involving examining the Greenwich archives in Cambridge and The National Archives at Kew and elsewhere, and with assistance, examine more or less every detail of the current machinery.

 

2012 September meeting

Thursday, 6th September 

The Beresford Hutchinson Commemorative Lecture 2012

‘The heart of the world’: Charlton, Greenwich and the global time network

David Rooney
‘What we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things … the connections between causes and effects are often much more subtle and complex than we with our rough and ready understanding of the physical world might naturally suppose.’ Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.

David Rooney’s academic interests revolve around technological networks and their relationship with people. The interaction between humans and technology over long periods and wide geographical areas offers intriguing glimpses into the modern world.

In this commemorative lecture, David will examine aspects of horology in the local histories of two London districts, Charlton and Dollis Hill. He will then explore the impact these time-related industries had on global trade, politics and science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In doing so, he hopes to demonstrate the value of the Douglas Adams school of historical research for the particular case of horology.