“Making early style watch cases, from the 17th to 18th century”.
Mike is a self-taught horologist and hails from the Cheltenham Branch area.
Since retiring in 2000, he has concentrated on Horology, Silversmithing and Enamelling. One of the things he excels in, is making early watch cases. He will bring along various examples of watches in the cases he has made, to illustrate the methods he uses to make his cases, plus he tells me various other things.
Mike was an athlete at school before serving an apprenticeship at the De Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield, from 1954 to 1960. Excelling in his exams it was found he had a leaning towards small items, so was diverted from aircraft onto the missile site to make the guidance systems. He was given his own small machine shop. Serving his national service with the RAF, keeping up running which he loved, he was servicing ground to air missiles. Back in civvy street he joined a small company as a development engineer making aircraft instruments and industrial hydraulics.
In his own words “I was very fortunate to have worked on Concord throughout its life, plus most of the nuclear submarines and all the formula one teams”.
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
The process of repairing an escape wheel on which the tips of the teeth had become so bent that it would not function was described at the May meeting of the South London Branch by J C Li, a student at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation.
Mr Li, who is studying for an MA in Conservation studies (clocks and related objects), and was one He was one of a number of students from the college who, with course head Malcolm Archer, FBHI, attended the branch meeting, said the problem arose on an 1830s English chronometer carriage clock by Arnold and Dent.
The clock was fitted with a spring détente escapement – a mechanism was originally developed for precision timekeeping in marine chronometers.
The problem with the Escapement was that the tips of the teeth were bent to the point where it would not lock properly.
“Initially we thought of making a new wheel for it, but I thought it would be worth trying to straighten the ends of the teeth back. They were already delicate, so there was a risk of breaking tips off, but I thought it would be worth a shot,” Mr Li said
He made a little rig which was filed to be an exact match for the back of the teeth so that they could then be gently tapped back so that they were straightened.
The fit of the tooth-straightening rig, under magnification – picture courtesy West Dean College (Mr Li has written a detailed explanation of the process in a blog on the West Dean website, at: Blog | Straight edge conservation: A chronometer escape wheel | West Dean College of Arts and Conservation )
Another part of his MA course involved a thesis project, for which he investigating the use of epilane, the generic name for a surface agent which prevents oil from spreading by reducing the surface tension of the treated material, in clockwork in the field of conservation.
This involved treating pallets with epilane and having them running for a few months to see if there was any noticeable difference in oil creep or wear.
Mr Li showed branch members a test piece, the top half of which had been treated with epilane while the bottom half had not.
“Epilane is basically just an oleofilic oil-repelling coating which can be used on steel and other metals and is supposed to help keep oil safe, and is commonly used in modern watches on the escapement,” he said.
“The same amount of oil has been deposited on to the two surfaces. On the top part, the surface tension is such that it keeps the oil concentrated in one spot, while at the bottom, the untreated, regular, surface, the oil spreads out, and could potentially cause issues in clockwork.”
An advantage at West Dean was that, as it was a conservation college, students had access to machines and equipment which would not be available in a normal workshop, he said.
This meant he was able, as part of his project, to study whether epilane was reversible – could be cleaned off as if it had never been on a specific surface before. The question of whether it could it be applied and cleaned off in a safe way was a major concern in conservation.
First-year foundation student Dan Batty said he had previously studied at furniture college, adding: “But that was a means to an end, to get to West Dean to do clocks. Clocks was always the end goal.”
At the beginning of his first year at West Dean he had made a small set of tools, all of which would be useful in making the three-wheel train weight-driven clock he had to make as part of the course, and which he had brought with him.
“This is a simple three-wheel train weight-driven 50-hour wall clock. I had been aiming to make mine in the style of a late 17th Century with a single hand,” he said.
Everything on the clock was made and machined by hand, he said, to develop the hand skills he was learning. He had also had to make a fly-cutter to cut the teeth on the escape wheel – “which was an interesting experience.”
Mr Batty went on: “The dial was one of the more interesting parts of making the clock.
“I laid it out by hand – that was eyeball, so there were very few measurements there – it was what looked right.
“There are various things there that you would not necessarily notice which, in terms of maths, might not be correct – but if you measure things so that they were symmetrical it would look wrong.”
He then mounted the brass plate on which the dial was drawn out on to a face plate, and made an engraving tool and a tool-holder, using the pointed end of the engraving tool to produce the thin lines and the thick end of it produce the thick strokes on the numerals.
Engraving the dial of Mr Batty’s clock – picture courtesy West Dean College
He then matted the centre of the dial, which he silvered, he said, adding that he believed the look was appropriate for a clock of the late seventeen-hundreds.
Dan Purvey, who is in the second year of his Foundation degree, produced a French drum movement he was servicing – and asked branch members if they could help him solve the mystery of the unusual strike movement.
The French drum movement – note the steel parts of the strike mechanism. Picture courtesy West Dean College
The movement was a French drum movement with a going train and striking train, a half-hour strike.
“Some of the keen-eyed among you will notice there is something a little unique about this movement, particularly on the front plate,” he said.
The movement had removable barrels, which was not overly common in French drum movements.
It also bore a marking saying the patent was not authorised by the government, which led him to believe that the striking mechanism on the clock was a prototype of some type, but which had not been taken further.
He had been unable to find an official name for the strike movement, which, he said, was “very simple, minimalist” and consisted of only three components.
“We have a counter-lever, a gathering pallet, and a setting spring and lifting piece as well.”
One thing to notice was that the fly went back a bit before a striking. The strike train, he said, had to reverse ever so slightly so as to push the gathering pallet down and unlock it before running.
“I have done a little bit of research and I am struggling to find much information about where this comes from. I cannot find any official patent for it,” Mr Purvey said.
“If anyone does, by any chance, have any information on this, or can point me in the right direction – although this is not some sort of piece for my course, it is an interest I have come across and had the pleasure of observing and working on – I would be pleased to hear it.”
Earlier,. At the start of the evening, student Emily Matthews, who is in the second year of her Foundation course, told course head Malcolm Archer that she had already obtained a BA in fine arts degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury before applying to West Dean.
After studying fine art she had moved on to kinetic art – and applied to West Dean after her mother, who was aware of her interest in clocks and clockwork, drew her attention to the college and the courses it ran.
She had now worked on a long case clock and a carriage clock, and was also working on a musical table clock as well, she said, adding that in the last half of her second year she would be doing a large negotiated project.
The most challenging part of the work, she said, was the fine detailed work, when one had to to be extremely careful, because of the risks that something would break.
But she also really enjoyed working with smaller things, such as carriage clocks.
Mr Archer told the branch that West Dean had expanded considerably since it opened in 1971.
Until only a couple of years ago it had had room for only eight or nine students on clock courses, but because of growing demand had grown so it could now take 12.
There was now a new and larger workshop, which had space for 11 students and, in the centre, a teaching bench with an overhead camera and a microscope camera, so it was easier for a fairly large group of students to gather around the tutor and see what was going on.
“Teaching at West Dean is and has been very practical-based – learning by seeing it done,” Mr Archer said.
“A lot of time is spent in that central workshop watching me or my colleagues doing something around that central area.”
The old workshop had now been concerted to hold a number of machines, including a Myford lathe and a milling machine.
The first two years of the courses was the foundation years – the entry level, he said.
“The first year is about making tools, using equipment, building up hand skills, building up theory, and it culminates in the construction of a simple clock – all students make a clock at the end of the year – a three-wheel train wall clock,” Mr Archer said.
He also gave examples of some of the interesting projects – alongside the normal work at the college – on which students had opportunities to work, including a Regulator clock and a very small carriage clock.
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
For our branch lecture of April 2023, we are delighted to welcome back Anna Rolls, Curator of the Clockmakers’ Museum and Archive. After initially training in metalworking at the University of Brighton, Anna went on to complete a Postgraduate Diploma in The Conservation of Fine Metalwork at West Dean College, followed by an MA in Conservation Studies awarded by the University of Sussex. Anna was subsequently employed as the Objects Conservator for Scientific Instruments at the Royal Museum of Greenwich, where she began the British Horological Institute’s distance learning course diploma in The Repair, Restoration and Conservation of Watches. She took up her current role as Curator of the Clockmakers’ Museum and Archive in 2018, where she looks after the collection formed by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
Anna will use her talk to highlight a number of projects which have been carried out over the last year within the Company’s Museum [on display at the Science Museum London] and Archive [held at the Guildhall Library]. Focussing on some of the objects and manuscripts from the collection which have been at the centre of these projects, Anna will delve into the stories that they help to reveal.
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
“Chronometry and Chronometers on British Voyages of Exploration 1819 to 1836.”
Dr. Emily Akkermans
It has been sometime since our past president Jonathan Betts retired from the Royal Greenwich Observatory, though he is still curator emeritus. David Rooney is now a freelance author. Our past chairman Rory McEvoy also has moved on to pastures new and Anna Rolls has become the curator of the Clockmakers Museum. So, I am delighted to welcome Dr Emily Akkermans Curator of Time to the South London Branch in a hope to continue its long-term connection to horology at Greenwich.
Dr. Emily Akkermans studied horology at the Vakschool, Schoonhoven, Netherlands and has been working with the collection at Greenwich since June 2018. When Emily was appointed as curator of time she was studying for a PhD, and I’m delighted she successfully defended her thesis. Tonight’s lecture is the culmination of the research work she has been doing on the use of Chronometers at sea. In particular during the first half of the 19th century when they came into widespread use.
She will examine the practices that were adopted by Royal Naval officers on scientific expeditions that took place between 1819 – 1836. These are Edward Parry’s three attempts to find the North-West passage. William Fitzwilliam Owen’s survey of the East Coast of Africa. Henry Foster’s scientific expedition in the Atlantic and Robert Fitzroy’s survey of South America and circumnavigation.
By their very nature chronometers can be delicate temperamental instruments that require a delicate touch from one who is familiar in their use, trained in taking readings and the mathematics of piloting these. Emily will include the social and institutional network in which the user of these instruments operated. The role of State, of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. And how the determination of longitude developed not from one instrument but through the interaction and use of a variety of instruments and methods.
-Duncan Greig
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
“Chronometry and Chronometers on British Voyages of Exploration 1819 to 1836.”
Dr. Emily Akkermans
It has been sometime since our past president Jonathan Betts retired from the Royal Greenwich Observatory, though he is still curator emeritus. David Rooney is now a freelance author. Our past chairman Rory McEvoy also has moved on to pastures new and Anna Rolls has become the curator of the Clockmakers Museum. So, I am delighted to welcome Dr Emily Akkermans Curator of Time to the South London Branch in a hope to continue its long-term connection to horology at Greenwich.
Dr. Emily Akkermans studied horology at the Vakschool, Schoonhoven, Netherlands and has been working with the collection at Greenwich since June 2018. When Emily was appointed as curator of time she was studying for a PhD, and I’m delighted she successfully defended her thesis. Tonight’s lecture is the culmination of the research work she has been doing on the use of Chronometers at sea. In particular during the first half of the 19th century when they came into widespread use.
She will examine the practices that were adopted by Royal Naval officers on scientific expeditions that took place between 1819 – 1836. These are Edward Parry’s three attempts to find the North-West passage. William Fitzwilliam Owen’s survey of the East Coast of Africa. Henry Foster’s scientific expedition in the Atlantic and Robert Fitzroy’s survey of South America and circumnavigation.
By their very nature chronometers can be delicate temperamental instruments that require a delicate touch from one who is familiar in their use, trained in taking readings and the mathematics of piloting these. Emily will include the social and institutional network in which the user of these instruments operated. The role of State, of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. And how the determination of longitude developed not from one instrument but through the interaction and use of a variety of instruments and methods.
-Duncan Greig
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
Our next meeting has been affected by the transport strikes, the speaker is not confident of being able to fit in our meeting with other commitments and is postponing until later in the year. Instead, we will be showing a DVD, amongst others we have one that is produced by Patek Philippe, a name that always intrigues. I haven’t seen it but I’m sure that it will live up to their reputation.
ZOOM LINK OBITUARY!
I have to apologise to members for not sharing the last meeting by Zoom as we originally planned. We were unable to set it up. The format has proved very useful during lockdown, despite the tech problems and the time setting up a functioning link. Our attempts to keep the link going, which is good for distant members and those too unwell or at risk to travel, have been dogged by tech problems and not having someone who is willing and able to take control and run the link. Sadly, for these reasons we have decided to discontinue zoom meetings for the present unless we can provide a good service.
-James Marten
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
“CREATING A SLOW TOURBILLION – WHY IT’S WORTH THE EFFORT”.
DAVID COTTRELL
How fortunate we were that David Cottrell was available to accept the invitation to speak to the South London Branch for this, “The George Daniels Memorial Lecture”.
A former BorgWarner precision toolmaker, with no horological experience, David read “Watchmaking” by George Daniels. A 2013 Christmas gift, from his wife. Nine years later he is showing us his first and second watches, explaining how he designed and made an exquisite four-minute tourbillion, with separate drive to the second’s hand. The single-minded dedication and perseverance are hard to imagine.
After making his first watch, a minute tourbillion with Daniels Coaxial escapement, David studied the Derek Pratt remontoir/tourbillion idea and the physics behind the concept which has the advantage of isolating the escape wheel from rotational inertia of the carriage. He then designed on CAD a four-minute tourbillion, the slower rotational speed being another approach to reducing the energy in the system and hence loading on the escape wheel during locking. Shock protection for the carriage support was achieved with David’s unique design of a swan neck bracket. The weight of the carriage was 3g and the swan neck bracket was tested to a weight of 15g to simulate a 5G shock. For the second watch David decided to machine a Roger Smith one piece type escape wheel from silver steel. He discussed and showed the tool making processes to make constant form relief cutters for the locking teeth. The inner, raised, impulse teeth were profiled using a 0.5mm cutter. To machine some of the complex curved parts was challenging without the assistance of CNC.
When making parts it is often necessary to record a specific temperature to harden and temper the part and then to measure the hardness of the finished piece. These processes require prohibitively expensive instruments which may be used just occasionally. So, David took us through the prosses of designing and making his own hardness tester. This was driven by the need to ensure that the form relieved cutters made for the escape wheel would retain their edge. Heat treatment of these cutters proved to be critical, with a narrow temperature range – 806 and 816C. To check the accuracy of a furnace he passed on a tip that table salt, conveniently melts at 800c. Another little detail was he likes to make the screws with curved heads where appropriate.
Duncan thanked David for a very technical and inspiring lecture which was followed by many questions from the audience and a presentation of the appropriate lubricant. To give an idea of the quality of the workmanship, you might like to google www.instagram.com/djcotterellwatches.
Was it worth the effort? It sure was!!!
-Duncan Greig
Doors open at 19:30, Starting 20.00 hours.
For those of you not able to attend log in details will be sent in a separate email.Please log in from 19:40 .
The meeting will be held at The White Hart Barn in Godstone.
We are pleased to be able to hold the branch auction which is one of the highlights of our calendar for many members. It is a chance to grab a bargain or make a bit of extra cash by selling those unwanted horological items.
There is always something for everyone at this event, so why
not dig out those horological treasures that have been lurking under the bench
or in the back of the cupboard, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much
they realise.
This is a private auction and is therefore only open to
members of, the BHI, BHI Branches, West Dean College or Epping Forest Horology
Centre. Please bring proof of membership to enable us to issue a bidding
number.
Details are as follows:
Booking in will commence at 18:15 in the Lindley Room which is the left hand door side room. This will need to be done quietly and no entrance to the main hall will be allowed.
Entry to the main hall – and viewing – will not be available until 19.30.
NO LOTS WILL BE TAKEN IN AFTER 19:45 to allow time for administration and for a start of around at 20:30.
The branch has been entrusted with the disposal of the late John Hatt’s effects, some of which will be available if members lots do not fill the auction.
Payments for purchasers up to £100 are required to be made in cash. By prior arrangement and agreement with the Treasurer we will accept cheques for total payments over £100.
No commission is charged to buyers. Sellers only pay £1.50
per lot entered. If you wish to set a reserve, you must bid up to that price
and collect your lot at the end of the evening if not sold.
We reserve the right to refuse any lots containing fluids /
powders and the like that are not in secure & sealed containers.
Electrical / electronic items are sold with no guarantee as
to their condition or safety. All such equipment should be checked by a
suitably qualified electrician.
Duncan Grieg introduced us to Mike Bundock who gave us a talk on clock towers. Having spent thirty years researching and viewing many of the three hundred examples in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, he is the expert to give us a definition of his subject. A clock tower is free standing without any adjoining construction such as a bell tower.
In some cases, the Architectural and building costs were borne by dignitaries of the town or City, the largest contribution would be from the local MP and lesser amounts donated by the lower orders. There would be a public list of subscribers and the amount they contributed, such as in Weymouth. Many structures were financed by public donation, and where there was a financial shortfall, the Council would have to make good the deficit. The Council would often end up having to pay for the maintenance and the clock winder as there would be no method of automatic winding.
The conventional construction would be of brick with an outer skin of a local quality stone if there was a nearby quarry, or possibly a Scottish granite would have to be imported. Portland stone (as in Bexleyheath) was popular or even a quality brick might be acceptable. In Douglas, (Isle of Man) a clock tower was constructed of cast Iron which was delivered in sections and assembled on site. Much easier and less expensive than conventional methods.
There are examples of clock towers having to be moved in later years to give way to traffic demands as in Cricklewood, Cockermouth and Newbury. Clock towers were usually built to commemorate a major event such as the memorial to Prince Albert in Barnstable and Queen Victoria at Much Wenlock and Gravesend. There are war memorials to the dead as on the clock towers at Rainham, Studham and Nailsworth. Others celebrating the Royal weddings are located at Thirsk, Christchurch and Sittingbourne. There is a clock tower at Penrith financed by residents, recording the death of the son of Mr. Philip Musgrave the member of a private family.
Clock makers advertised their products and prices. Some of the names are familiar to us today, such as Gillett and Bland of Croydon and John Smith of Derby. These makers were particularly busy around the time of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (5th February 1887).
The detail that Mike Bundock gave us of the many clock towers to which he referred was exceptional and the audience showed their appreciation with gusto as Duncan thanked Mike and presented him with …… guess what?