Saturday 30 July 2011

Peerless Mantle Clock

As promised, I am posting more pictures & details of my Peerless mantle clock.


It would be best to start with a video :-). It has Westminster chimes every quarter & strike on the hour. (sorry about the kids screaming in the background)



The sound is all the more pleasing when you consider that this clock is just 190mm wide X 140mm deep X 210mm tall.


The glass is thick and bevelled.


The dial font is quite interesting. The Arabic numerals are engraved and filled with paint. The three winding arbours are for time, strike & chime.


This clock has a "silent lever" at three o'clock. One can silence the chimes & strike at night if one so wishes.


Some details shots of the woodwork....



The movement is accessed through a door in the back.


Lets see what's under the bonnet :-)
As you can see, this clock has a balance wheel, just like a watch. That makes it more versatile, a pendulum clock needs to put in beat every time one moves it. The downside, I assume, would be the higher beat rate and the consequent higher wear.


And now, the reason why this small clock sounds like a much bigger clock.
It had five rectangular section coil gongs! I am not familiar with clocks but my research says that rectangular section gongs sound better than round section gongs. Also, the longer a gong the deeper the note. Coil gongs allow you to get deeper notes in a small form factor. I believe these gongs were difficult to manufacture & tune.


Here are the markings on the backplate . It was made in Germany by Peerless.
I wonder if the serial number will help date the clock.


Hope you enjoyed reading about this lovely clock :-)

Saturday 16 July 2011

Birthday Gifts

It was my birthday on the 13th & a very happy one if it is to be judged by the gifts I received :-)

From my wife I got a book I have wanted for close to three years now. 'Watchmaking' by George Daniels is considered to be the Bhagwad Geeta/ Bible/ Koran for anybody interested in watches. It was out of print & when a new edition came out earlier this year I lost no time in ordering one. Special thanks are due to my friend, Camden Coffman, who organised a sizeable discount for this book.

Since this was something I requested, my wife gave me another gift that she chose- a chair with height adjustment! For years she has seen me hunched over my desk, working away. Quite often one does not notice the discomfort one is in till one experiences something better. I must say using the turns is much more comfortable with the chair at the lowest setting. So, a big thank you to my wife for a thoughtful gift!

Next up is an HMT NASL-04 watch from my sister-in law, Sasha. This is one of the new breed of HMTs. I am very pleased with this watch. The design is very balanced & the dial is readable. Even the lume is decent. This could very well become my every day watch!

It is good to see HMT pay attention to details on their watches.


And last is what I consider to be a gift to myself. I have always wanted a chiming & striking clock. I bought this years ago on ebay-UK. Since shipping costs were prohibitive I had it delivered to my uncle in the UK. He managed to get it this time & handed it over on my birthday. It is a 'Peerless', German made, with strike & Westminster chimes. I will make a separate post on this clock.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Video of No.1-02

Here is a video I shot of No.1-02.

It is a bit fuzzy, I still need to perfect this. Next time I will try some sort of magnification between the lens & the watch. I wish my camera had macro mode for video :-)