Do You Know?

From The American Horologist magazine, January, 1939

Do You Know?
Directed by 
W. H. Samelius, Chairman
Science of Horology and Technical Board

High grade silver plating is supposed to be about in the proportion to one ounce of silver to a square foot of surface.

How dear to our hearts are the big silver dollars, 
When some kind subscriber presents them to view.
They may come today or they may come tomorrow, 
They may come from others, they may come from you, 
The big silver dollars, the round silver dollars, 
Dear delinquent subscribers, present them to view. - (O. R. Hagans.)

Standing in the entrance hall of the Hobbies Museum is an exceptionally heavy carved oak clock that stands 12 feet high, 4 feet 9 inches wide. This elaborate clock was built by Joshua Hampson in England, in 1743, and is said to have stood in the great hall of the ancestral castle of the Earl of Durham. It shows the phase of the moon, has a full set of chimes playing Home Sweet Home, Mistletoe Bow, Bonnie Dundee, Jenny Jones, Auld Lang Syne and Old Hundreth. The dial is elaborately enriched with the Coats of Arms of London. This clock also shows the date and month and there is an indicator hand that controls the striking mechanism for strike, silent or chimes.

The oldest watch in existence of known date was made by Jacques de la Garde of Blois, France, 1551. It is in the Paul Garnier collection in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

All watches not round in shape are measured across the smallest diameter to give the size. One ligne equals 2.255 mm.

Yankee clocks with wooden movements were made between 1810-1840.  After that date brass movements were made.

Between 1790 and 1850 most of the tall grandfather clocks in the United States were made by local clockmakers.

The oldest known timepiece in existence is a clock that was made between 1390 and 1400 for Dover Castle, England. This old timepiece now reposes in the South Kensington Museum, London, England.  In 1836, the combined production of sixteen clock factories making brass and wooden clocks amounted to approximately 100,000 timepieces per year.  These factories were all located in Bristol, Connecticut, which was then the center of the clockmaking industry.

It is said Benjamin Banneker, the son of a freed African slave made a complete clock from wood, using only a pecket knife and that the clock kept good time for many years.

The duplex escapement which was favored for many years was invented by Pierre LeRoy, Paris, 1757.

Watches made to wind through a hole in the dial were in common use about 1725.