# Have I Got The Biggest Timepiece On The Forum?



## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

I finally got around to taking some photos of my biggest timepiece and I wonder if there any like-minded people on here?

About 4 years ago I answered an ad for a job in a local village. The pay is only Â£30 per month, but it helps to keep me fit!

So, this is what it looks from the outside...










This is inside the tower, there are two weights that are on steel cables - these gradually over the course of 4 days drop down the tower, until hopefully I wind them back up to the top. One is for the clock and the other for the hourly bells. The pendulum is quite crude but only takes a bit of adjustment - when there are big shifts in temperature...










The last two shots are of the workings themselves. You can see the 2 drums that hold the cable, with a shaft on each, onto which fits a large handle to wind them up with. You can just see the dial which is back to front, on which you can adjust the clockfaces (there are 3). I have only once got outside, looked up and realised I had changed the time the wrong way - I'm good at reading the time back to front now...



















So that's my part time job for pocket money! My big day is soon coming up - when the clocks go back. Not at all bothered about going into a cold, dark church at midnight on my own...although I have scared myself a couple of times!


----------



## mjolnir (Jan 3, 2006)

Very cool :yes:

What happens if you go away on holiday? Does someone fill in automatically or do you have to go and find someone to help you out?


----------



## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

mjolnir said:


> Very cool :yes:
> 
> What happens if you go away on holiday? Does someone fill in automatically or do you have to go and find someone to help you out?


There are a couple of people who I can call on to fill in - but the clock is always out when I get back. I do get very protective of the old girl!


----------



## Stuart Davies (Jan 13, 2008)

Great job :thumbsup: - thanks for posting!


----------



## mjolnir (Jan 3, 2006)

For some reason I thought it might be tricky to get volunteers to venture up a cold clocktower in the dark to go fiddling about with a set of weights 

Good to see things like this are kept up though.


----------



## thunderbolt (May 19, 2007)

Very interesting Tim, thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:


----------



## watchnutz (Jan 18, 2008)

Don't work on any but tower clocks interest me. I often visit a clock museum that has several including one with wooden gears. Many of the old ones have been converted to electric motors to do the winding but they still are driven by weight fall.

Here is a pic of a wooden geared one. Notice the winding drums similar to yours.


----------



## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

That is amazing, it's very similar indeed. I wonder what the lifespan is, being made out of wood?

I just dug out a book that the church produced for its 200th year back in 1989. The clock tower itself was a later addition in 1881 and is 109 feet in height. The bell was cast by Mears in london in 1830.There is no mention of the actual clock. I have looked in the past on the clock mech to get an idea of its date, but I cannot find anything, though I feel sure there must be something.

There are 3 churches within 6-7 mile of us and all are hand wound, though I think mine is the only one that is twice-weekly. I think originally it was weekly, but a false floor was built some years ago which halved the effective length the weights could fall.


----------



## Mutley (Apr 17, 2007)

tall_tim said:


>


 I used to have one of those on a Toshi :wink2:


----------



## watchnutz (Jan 18, 2008)

Tim, have you tried researching the name on the dial?

The big maker here in the states was Howard. Here is one of theirs that I take it is a time only. This one is running in the museum and it's a joy to watch that loooong pendulum doing it's slow swing.

BTW the street clocks on posts are interesting also.










A watchmaker friend of mine maintains several of these and street clocks in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He has a lot of photos on his web site.


----------



## Dave ME (May 7, 2005)

That's cool!


----------



## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Dave ME said:


> That's cool!


:thumbsup:


----------



## foztex (Nov 6, 2005)

Fantastic Tim,

top job. As far as age and identifying, is there not a mark under the balance :wink2: 

What a lovely bit of machinery

Andy


----------



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Great topic...which I've only just found. 

I neatly bought a turret clock (which is what this is







) about 8 years ago...but most are so big and the height required for the pendulum and weights sort of rules them out unless you live in a tower / windmill / church etc.

Seems there are a few for sale on eBay right now...all over Â£2K and not nearly as nice as yours. Do you have a photo of the escapement? :huh:


----------



## DavidH (Feb 24, 2003)

Very cool indeed. next time I am in Aberdeen I am coming to see you :cheers:


----------



## watchnutz (Jan 18, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> Do you have a photo of the escapement? :huh:


Paul in the 3rd photo it looks like the pallet and escape wheel at the top. I don't see either a crutch or pendulum though


----------



## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

Next time I'm winding, I'll take some photos from different angles, will also look for any marks, dates etc. Certainly if anyone is in the vicinity and I'm available - you would be welcome to a viewing. The village in question is Old Deer, famous in itself as the following extract copied from the web tells:

The Book of Deer is, arguably, one of the most ancient and most important treasures of Alba! Can any true Alban sleep until it is returned to its own country?

As to the book itself, its connection with the early monastery of Deer is unquestionable and more of its history is told elsewhere. It is of a small but rather wide 8vo form of eighty-six folios (twenty of which are illustrated here). It contains the Gospel of St John and portions of the other three Gospels; a fragment of an office for the Visitation of the sick, the Apostle's Creed; and a charter of King David I to the clerics of Deer. The notices in Gaelic of grants made to the monastery of Deer are written on blank pages or on the margins.

These texts are thought to be the oldest examples of Gaelic writing from Alba still to be in existence in the world - hence their pre-eminent importance to the Scottish nation!


----------



## Filterlab (Nov 13, 2008)

I have a very small timepiece, here it is on the end of a needle:


----------



## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

Amazing photo Rob. I'm on the iPhone at moment so picture not at full size- is it relection of a clock on a droplet or the real thing? Either way it looks great!


----------



## Filterlab (Nov 13, 2008)

tall_tim said:


> Amazing photo Rob. I'm on the iPhone at moment so picture not at full size- is it relection of a clock on a droplet or the real thing? Either way it looks great!


I wish I could take the credit, but it's an image I hooked from the net. Macro stuff isn't my game, I do nightscapes.


----------



## Filterlab (Nov 13, 2008)

I've just dug into the image and it looks like a layered image. Would be amazing if it was a real clock though!


----------



## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

Filterlab said:


> I've just dug into the image and it looks like a layered image. Would be amazing if it was a real clock though!


I was wondering if the clock was full size and it's just a perspective thing, as the clock does not sit right on the end of the needle - just shows us you can't believe everything you see!


----------



## Alexm (Jul 30, 2009)

big boy


----------

