We are extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on this clock. From what can be determined, it was built in London, England by one of the fore-fathers of the current owner and has been in the family all of its' life.

It is also clearly the most complex clock that I have ever seen outside of a museum.

The clock mechanism had not been working for at least 50 years prior to us seeing it and was in several shoe box cartons. We spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out where everything went and as it turned out, there were a few parts and pieces that did not belong to this clock. As it turned out, the clock had suffered a couple of calamitous escapement failures in the early 1900's and was never properly repaired.

The Graham escapement had broken and was repaired by soldering the broken pallet back on. Unfortunately, it was in the incorrect position. A new escapement had to be reverse engineered, manufactured, polished and hardened. Three were made and the first unfortunately warped during the hardening process, which was done by hand as per the original practice.

The clock movement sits on four brass turned uprights and is bolted to a solid brass "Seatboard" with two massive bolts. The seatboard in turn required a larger upright "Beam" for stability and to prevent it from flexing under the considerable weight of not only the movement, gong mechanisms and dial, but also of the heavy pendulum and the weights.

The extremely heavy solid brass dial (with silvered numbers) displays the following:

• The Hours, Minutes and Seconds of the day (at a time when the Hours were the norm for the Proletariat)
• A separate Dial at the top showing (concentrically) the Date and the month. Date correction is automatic with separate levers on the back of the dial, which "fast-forward" on days months with less than 31 days.
• Within the above, at the top, is the Moon phase dial with wonderful, handpainted pictures of the moon
• Two separate dials to indicate the time the Moon Rises and sets
• A separate indicator the deviation to the Sidereal Time in minutes (both Fast and Slow)
• Two separate dials above the "11" and "1" to indicate the time the Sun Rises and sets
• Two smaller "dials" set within the number circle, near the "8" and "4" allow the clock to be set to "Chime" or "Silent", as well as to change to chime melody between "Westminster" and "Whittington"
• The Day of the Week (Mon/Tues/Wed...) is displayed on a silvered dial opening, between the handshaft and the time train winding arbour.

The clock has coiled gongs -12 for the chimes, of which 4 are for Westminster chime and 8 for Whittington, plus a set of two for the hour-strike. The chime and strike mechanisms are both spring and weight counterbalanced and are driven by special ladder chains from the movement. The complex dial indicators are also driven through ladder chains off the Strike train.

Yes, it is extremely complex. However, the majority of the astronomical functions (moon rise & set, sun rise & set, as well as the deviation to sidereal time) do not appear to work correctly. That said, the indicators move around but they are not correct. This is due to the fact that the gears driving them are all pretty much alike, especially in the tooth count.

The Day, Date and Month indicators work correctly. It even automatically moves the date forward the appropriate number of days to give the correct 1st of the month indication. It also adjusts for leap years, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, all dial movements are driven off the hour chime, so if that one goes out of sync, then the dial indications do also. However, there is a manual correction lever that allows for forward-reverse drive of these functions, to allow for a bit of adjustment. The hardest part was trying to figure out the synchronisation between all of these gears and their functions, so that they function correctly (or, as designed).

The pendulum can be adjusted and fine-tuned for effective length, to set the beat and for counterbalancing the "drive - impulse" mechanism between the crutch, pendulum leader and the escapement
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After all was repaired, overhauled and restored, the clock was able to keep nearly perfect time. My father, who looked at the clock shortly after I picked it up, told me to pack it up and return it to the owners. Now, when he saw it functioning at the owners residence, he told me that he would never have started doing the restoration.

Pictures in "As Received" Condition and a close-up of the damaged Graham Escapement after removal of excess solder.
The displacement of the exit pallet can be clearly seen. There were 2 extra shoe boxes with miscellaneous parts, as well as the Gongs, weights, pendulum and the dial, which was "temporarily" mounted on a plywood base.

The completed clock after restoration

Strike train side with the dial drive mechanism and "Forward - Reverse" lever on right side. Note the counterbalance weights and the overall size of the components.

View from rear side while undergoing testing. Note the Chime hammer assembly, Strike gong and counterbalance.

Rear of dial with ladder drive chain. There is another plate between these with many more gears, Geneva mechanisms and ratchet's / levers.

Front of completed dial assembly.
Looks so simple from this side.

Seat Board detail with movement support pillars and hold down bolts. Fittings at lower left and right fasten the dial assembly.

Detail of upper dial.

Restored weight-shells and pulleys.
Note the design of the pulleys & size of the fasteners.

Lower Pendulum assembly.

Pendulum hanger and crutch assembly. Note the dovetail joints for the pendulum spring, as well as the beat adjustment, which is very similar to that of a Vienna Regulator.

Three layers of gears, wheels, levers, Geneva mechanisms on the dial. The chime assembly "Piggybacks" on the rear of the movement. Chime hammer cage lifts the hammers in & out of position, depending on which chime melody is sselected.

Weight Pulley Detail

Weight Pulley Detail