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Lot Essay
The present clock was originally made for Lord Grey's private observatory at Kinfauns Castle in 1811 and is described in detail in Reid's Treatise on Clock and Watchmaking, op. cit..
The special escapement with spring pallets was designed to keep the pendulum as detatched as possible and its blued steel cage replaces the need for any crutch assembly. All this combined with the anti-friction roller cages must have cost Lord Grey a very considerable sum indeed!
The provenance, (see Derek Roberts op. cit.), describes the clock as having remained in the hands of Lord Grey's descendants until 1934 when it was bought by a Mr. Howard of Howard Bros. of London at which time it had been converted to simple anchor escapement. Then in 1958 it was bought and lovingly restored by Professor Hans Von Bertele of Vienna.
The special escapement with spring pallets was designed to keep the pendulum as detatched as possible and its blued steel cage replaces the need for any crutch assembly. All this combined with the anti-friction roller cages must have cost Lord Grey a very considerable sum indeed!
The provenance, (see Derek Roberts op. cit.), describes the clock as having remained in the hands of Lord Grey's descendants until 1934 when it was bought by a Mr. Howard of Howard Bros. of London at which time it had been converted to simple anchor escapement. Then in 1958 it was bought and lovingly restored by Professor Hans Von Bertele of Vienna.