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 :-)