Category: Meetings 2020 & 2021

4^th February 2021

A talk by Alan White

The Trials and Tribulations of constructing a one wheeled clock

For our February zoom meeting The South London Branch welcomes our own Alan White.

Alan will be talking about the construction of his one-wheel clock, based upon a clock by Pierre Le Roy.

July 2013, we had a meeting entitled Clockmaking in Soho, Birmingham, given by David Hornsey. We learned of a one wheeled clock, patented by Dr William Small in 1773 which appealed to Alan’s love of the unusual. On a subsequent visit to the British Museum students’ room, in September 2013 curator Oliver Cooke, showed him the Leroy one wheel clock which became the inspiration for the clock he made and will talk of tonight. The journey was not without its trials and tribulations, which I hope he will share with us.

Alan has been a branch member for many years and has served on the committee for ten years. His main interest is the construction of new clocks, he is a retired Structural and Civil Engineer. His interest in Horology began back in 1973, newly qualified he decided to take the BHI evening course in Horology at Hackney Technical College, Mare Street. This facility sadly closed in the 1990’s, But this was where Alan studied a theoretical and practical three-year course consisting of three nights a week, inspiring his love of Horology.

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

7th January 2021

A talk by Graham Morse

The restoration of three watches by ‘Messrs: Leroux, Roskell, Mudge & Dutton’.

The South London Branch is delighted to welcome back Graham Morse, from the Wessex branch who many of you will remember gave us a fantastic talk in February 2020. For those of you who have not attended the speaker’s previous talk hear is a brief resume of his involvement in horology in his own words.

“Before retiring from Xerox in 2013, I had been fascinated by horology since I bought, on a whim at a local auction some 30 years before, a French black marble mantel clock. After repairing it, and in the process being persuaded by a local clockmaker to join the BHI Wessex Branch, I progressed from these clocks, via a brief foray into wristwatches, to the world of English watches from the 18th and early 19th centuries. I think much of the attraction of this field for me lies in the largely handmade nature of these pieces and the complexity of the trade, comprising such a multiplicity of crafts, which produced them. The nature of their manufacture frequently gives rise to the necessity to make replacement parts from the raw materials, something I sometimes find challenging but always most rewarding.

My involvement with the Wessex Branch has deepened, from initially taking over the maintenance and running of our auction database software and its general administration, to now having been Chairman since Andrew James stood down in 2017, I’m also a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society, the Dorset Clocks Society and the NAWCC.

The Zoom presentation deals in some detail with the repair and restoration of three pocket watches.

1   A Quarter Repeater signed for John Leroux,

2   A Rack Lever signed for Robert Roskell,

3   A Cylinder signed for Thomas Mudge & William Dutton

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

3^rd December 2020

Tall stories and shocking tales – the stories of a few objects in a museum of electrical horology.

James Nye

James Nye will give a whistle-stop tour of the Clockworks Museum in South-East London, pausing to unravel stories that surround some of his favourite objects in the collection.

Dr James Nye is Chairman of the AHS, and the founding sponsor of The Clockworks museum in West Norwood. He has had a lifelong interest in electrical horology, and has been Secretary of the AHS Electrical Horology Group for twenty years. He is a member of the Court of the Clockmakers’ Company, and is chairman of its Collections Committee.

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

19^th November 2020

An Evening with Tommy Jobson Touring His Workshop

Tommy Jobson

For our November lecture we are delighted to welcome Tommy Jobson.

Coming from a long family tradition of clock making Tommy has horology in his blood. With a wealth of experience working in the Antiquarian horological field Tommy has worked on some of the finest clocks in the country by such eminent makers as Thomas Tompion, Joseph Knibb, and Breguet to name but three. Tommy has gained a wealth of experience working on Swiss watches having worked previously for Longines. Tommy is a member of the British Watch and Clockmakers Guild and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.

Tommy will be giving us a guided tour of his workshop, tools and the sort of jobs that he is currently working on, for example the Buchanan and the David Walters clocks.

For an insight into his business activities take a look at his website

Also see his Instagram site: @tommy.jobson

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

1^st October 2020

A Tale of Two Chronometers

Gordon Hoare

For our October lecture we are delighted to welcome Gordon Hoare who will be taking us on a journey of two chronometers he now owns.

Gordon will describe repairs completed as well as the trail and ownerships of the chronometers.

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

10 September 2020

Design and construction of a bracket clock with astronomical displays

Adrian Garner

For our September lecture Adrian Garner will take us through his four year project of designing and constructing a bracket clock showing mean time, sidereal time, the difference between solar and mean time and the period of the moon.  The clock is topped with a “Ferguson’s Paradox” tellurian.  His talk will include illustrations of some of the unusual methods needed to create this clock.

Adrian is a branch committee member and has spoken to us in the past on the topic of polishing.  He is an occasional writer for the Horological Journal and model engineering magazines, is a past chairman of the Society of Model & Experimental Engineers and, when not in the workshop, looks after our branch website.

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

6 August 2020

“Dobson” – A clock of the sea and the land.

Justin Jay Koullapis FBHI

For our August lecture we are delighted to welcome back Justin Koullapis. Members will remember his thought-provoking talk at our July 2015 meeting on “To Restore or Not” – The Impact of Conservation on the Value of Vintage Wristwatches.”

This time Justin will be presenting a talk on the restoration and history of a friend’s long-case clock with an interesting background.

Justin has been Technical Editor of the Horological Journal since 2006 and has also written many articles for the journal, the latest being in the April issue, “Magnetic Resistant Watches” a review of the revision of the ISO 764 standard. He is also an elected Board Member of the BHI.

Justin is a co-founder of Watch Club in The Royal Arcade London specialising in buying and selling the world’s finest pre-owned watches.

Meeting held on line via Zoom.

5^th March 2020

Annual General Meeting followed by:

A Practical Demonstration of Dial Matting by Keith Davis

As usual this meeting will be a two-stage event. Firstly, there will be the AGM which will be followed by Keith Davis who will be giving us a practical demonstration of Dial Matting.

As mentioned in the newsletter sent to members last month (not on the website) our AGM will be a little different this year as we are to elect a new President.

Therefore, in addition to the normal committee member elections (with the exception of the Chairman who was elected for a two-year term last year) the position of President will also be voted on.

As we are a branch under the umbrella of BHI at Upton Hall please remember to vote at the AGM you must be a member of both our Branch and the BHI at Upton Hall.

In addition to the elections there will be the normal reports from the Chairman, Treasurer, Workshop Committee Chairman, Webmaster, and of course the opportunity for all members of the branch to raise any questions.

Keith Davies is a highly respected horologist working in the Maidstone area.

Originally apprenticed as a jewellery/silversmith he became interested in horology and later apprenticed to the late Peter Bonnett. In the 1970s, there formed a bond between these two clockmakers even though Peter’s business was compulsory purchased by road building scheme in Maidstone. Keith started working for himself many years ago extending his garage and converting this into his workshop. Keith has worked for many of the members of the trade and private customers alike.

In 1987 he partook in the clockmakers company exhibition exhibiting a fine Shelton table regulator which he had made in conjunction with his friend Mr Moon, the collaboration produced more than one unusual timepiece including a replica wall regulator by Francis Crowe of Faversham.

Keith has always been very interested in animals and if you visited it was no surprise to find the latest acquisition of a barn owl in the garden aviary.

His work is always of the highest quality and his abilities include making watch cases, detent’s, wheels pinions and finally pierced hands to name a few.

6 February 2020

Three Restorations: Tales of 18^th Century Survivals

Graham, Morse

Before retiring from Xerox in 2013, I had been fascinated by horology since I bought, on a whim at a local auction some 30 years before, a French black marble mantel clock. After repairing it, and in the process being persuaded by a local clockmaker to join the BHI Wessex Branch, I progressed from these clocks, via a brief foray into wristwatches, to the world of English watches from the 18th and early 19th centuries. I think much of the attraction of this field for me lies in the largely handmade nature of these pieces and the complexity of the trade, comprising such a multiplicity of crafts, which produced them. The nature of their manufacture frequently gives rise to the necessity to make replacement parts from the raw materials, something I sometimes find challenging but always most rewarding.

My involvement with the Wessex Branch has deepened, from initially taking over the maintenance and running of our auction database software and its general administration, to now having been Chairman since Andrew James stood down in 2017 in order to devote more time to his Clockmaker’s Company roles. (Andrew’s recent death at a tragically young age has left us all deeply saddened).

I’m also a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society, the Dorset Clocks Society and the NAWCC.

The presentation deals in some detail with the repair and restoration of three pocket watches made in the 18th century, which came to me in need of various interventions.

• A 1762 English verge signed for James Ivory with several structural problems, which ended up being a full restoration including re-plating the cases and making a pair of the correct hands for the dial.
• A 1788 English cylinder with a centre seconds hand, signed for John Starey, but made to the design and standards of George Graham, which was bought at an auto-jumble by its present owner, with the vendor suggesting that it would be suitable for mounting with a clip on the handlebars of a motorbike! This needed new hands as well as some other work.
• A c.1750 English verge quarter repeater signed for Robert Higgs, which had been somewhat bodged in earlier repairs, in spectacular gold pair cases.

2^nd January 2020

A Comparison of Early Tompions.

Duncan Greig

Our first speaker this 2020 is Duncan Greig who regularly visits Lyme Park and other impressive collections working on site.

The focus of his talk will be the new marquetry longcase clock by Thomas Tompion which has recently found a home at Lyme. A bequest from a Norfolk collector, it now stands in the former State Dressing Room at Lyme, which houses forty-nine horological items. The month duration clock is unnumbered, therefore thought to predate 1682. The magnificent marquetry case, in all probability the work of Jasper Bream, with rising hood has retained much of its colour and cresting. Duncan will briefly describe other clocks at Lyme by the same maker. He wants to draw our attention to comparisons of the ‘new’ clock with one of similar appearance at Powys Castle, pointing out differences on the execution of work to the Barrels, Motion work, Pallets and maintaining power.

With further interesting illustrations of the work by this maker Duncan hopes to draw to our attention to the fact that we all make mistakes…….