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Lot Essay
ALBERT ODMARK NOTES
Bought from Ronald Lee, April 27, 1970.
This clock is one of Knibb's rare three train quarter striking clocks with triple divided frontplates. Close examination of the movement reveals that apart from the escapement and countwheels the movement has seen very little change. It would appear that the strike system was always quarter striking. The absence of a filled hole in the upper centre of the backplate for a trip detent, used by Knibb to co-ordinate the quarter and hour countwheels, discounts the possibility that the clock was originally grande sonnerie or double six hour strike.
The split frontplate was another feature that Knibb and a few other top level makers used with three train clocks, both table and floor standing. This was an innovation thought to have originated in the Fromanteel workshops. Knibb's brass movement plates were very thin and subsequently they tend to wear more than other movements with thicker, more robust plates. It was a great achievement to make a three train movement with split plates using such thin material. The split plates enabled the clockmaker to work on each of the three wheel trains independently from the one another without having to disassemble the entire movement. A feature that has probably earned the gratitude of many clock restorers over the centuries.
Bought from Ronald Lee, April 27, 1970.
This clock is one of Knibb's rare three train quarter striking clocks with triple divided frontplates. Close examination of the movement reveals that apart from the escapement and countwheels the movement has seen very little change. It would appear that the strike system was always quarter striking. The absence of a filled hole in the upper centre of the backplate for a trip detent, used by Knibb to co-ordinate the quarter and hour countwheels, discounts the possibility that the clock was originally grande sonnerie or double six hour strike.
The split frontplate was another feature that Knibb and a few other top level makers used with three train clocks, both table and floor standing. This was an innovation thought to have originated in the Fromanteel workshops. Knibb's brass movement plates were very thin and subsequently they tend to wear more than other movements with thicker, more robust plates. It was a great achievement to make a three train movement with split plates using such thin material. The split plates enabled the clockmaker to work on each of the three wheel trains independently from the one another without having to disassemble the entire movement. A feature that has probably earned the gratitude of many clock restorers over the centuries.