J.H ADDICKS & SON, Amsterdam, Netherlands, c.1940's

Single train, steel plate and spacer frame. Graham deadbeat escapement. One second compensated metal pendulum rod. Epicyclical (sun and planet) maintaining power. Movement equipped with a 12 second gravity train 'swinging frame remontoire '. For more examples, see my remontoire page. Movement electrically rewound by small 220VAC motor. 15"w x 12.5"h x 8"d.

This obscure firm produced a limited number of high quality tower clocks in the 1940's and 50's. The clock is on the small end of the scale. But what is unusual about it is the numerous interesting mechanical contrivances. The 12 second remontoire is one of the shorter periods on  tower clocks (At the extreme end, Odobey from Jura, France used a 5 second period with a similar style remontoire!). The swinging frame type of remontoire by its' nature requires a very short cycle time. The reason for this is that should the carriage move by more than a few degrees, its drive pinion would lose contact with the teeth of the drive wheel from the main train.

Instead of a fly fan to mediate the recoil of the remontoire, it uses a wheel with a heavy rim that also acts as the remontoire weight. There is a complex dual, independent epicyclical gear system for maintaining power and winding. Winding is through a worm gear connected to a motor. The mechanical advantage achieved through the use of both the worm drive/large wheel combination and the epicyclical winding gear allows a small (70 watt) motor to lift a 35 lb. (16 kg) weight. It's also fascinating to watch the epicyclical gear work rotating around its axis during winding. The escape wheel has the scale and delicacy of those found on a tall case clock. The pendulum is driven from an offset crutch that has an adjustable pin which impulses the pendulum from one side of the pendulum rod.