Lot 174

Thomas Mercer Ltd., St. Albans, England, Movement No. 790, 255 mm, circa 1967
A ship's wall clock with 8 day movement, power reserve indicator and spring detent escapement
Case: brass. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, chain/fusee, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, seconds contact device, hack feature, bimetallic chronometer balance with 2 screws and 2 weights.
This wall clock with seconds contact was most likely used as a master clock. The top-quality movement with eight day power reserve, the detached escapement and the dial are all marked with the number 790. The constant second mechanism is ingenious: As this is a wall clock without a pendulum, the clock cannot be restarted simply by a turn of the balance (same as with a ships’ chronometer); instead, a mechanism consisting of several gearwheels transmits an impulse to the balance when a slide on the dial is pushed. The later addition of a base permits the use of this clock - which was originally a wall clock - as a table clock.

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