| Horological hints & tips | July 2004 |
Finding the rateMany of us now have electronic watch and clock timers such as the Microset. How did we ever manage without them?However, apart from the eight-day longcase (one-second beating) and for putting clocks ‘in beat’, they are of little use unless you know the number of beats per hour of a particular clock. This is occasionally found stamped on the back plates of a few modern clocks. For example, a Badische clock may have the number of beats per minute, say 85, stamped on it. Multiplying this by 60 gives the number of beats per hour, ie 5100. If no bph number is stamped, I always count up the going train and calculate the number of beats per hour. This is then marked on my repair label and in a card file, together with the key size. I can always quickly reset the clock to the currect time in the customer’s home, and magically provide the correct size key if lost. One final point. Don’t always assume carriage clocks beat 18,000 times per hour (although this is the most common rate). One recent carriage clock by Le Roy, Paris, beat 18,404 per hour! R C Woodhouse, UK |
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