Antiquarian Horological Society

 

The Scottish Section meets at The Methodist Church, Nicholson Square, Edinburgh.

The Section was founded in 1985 at the initiative of a group of Scottish AHS members, led by the well-known Scottish horologist Felix Hudson. We celebrated our 20th anniversary in October of 2005.

Membership The section draws its members from all parts of Scotland and beyond. Members include professional clock and watchmakers, restorers, dealers, hobbyists and other enthusiasts. A welcome is extended to prospective members of all ages, backgrounds and experience - whether their interest is professional or recreational.. Membership of the Scottish Section is open to any person who is a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society. AHS Members may then elect to be affiliated with one or more regional or national sections or the specialist groups. Full details of how to become an AHS member are given in the main AHS website, here. If you are interested in finding out more about the AHS Scottish Section you can contact the Section's Secretary via the main AHS office. Prospective members are also very welcome to attend any of the Section’s meetings without obligation.

Horological Tours & Exhibitions In addition to the monthly meetings the Section also organizes longer horological tours. These have included trips to the Black Forest, the Swiss Jura, Vienna and Ireland. More widely, the Section is active in promoting the cause of antiquarian horology, and is particularly keen that Scotland’s own notable horological heritage should be properly appreciated, valued and understood. In 1997 the Section organized a major month-long exhibition entitled '500 Years of Scottish Clockmaking'. Based at Callendar House in Falkirk, the exhibition featured an unprecedented assembly of over 100 Scottish clocks, tracing the history and development of Scottish horology over the last five centuries. The section has also been privileged to welcome visits to Scotland from other international horological societies such as the North American Watch and Clock Collectors’ Association (NAWCC), American Watchmakers’ Institute (AWI) and the Deutsche Geschellschaft fur Chronometrie.

Meetings The Section meets monthly from September to June, at The Methodist Church, Nicholson Square, Edinburgh. The meetings are in the form of lectures from invited speakers, or visits to properties with a horological interest. Past speakers have included well-known horologists such as Jonathan Betts, Kenneth Roberts, Tom Robinson, Beresford Hutchinson, Frances Tennant, Rita Shenton, A.R. Somerville, Michel Dareau, The Viscount Midleton and John Robey. As well as lectures on items of historical interest, meetings of a practical nature are held. These typically comprise demonstrations by practicing craftsmen and women of specific clock and watchmaking skills, or on aspects of practical restoration and conservation.

Saturday 18 February	LECTURE: 'Perpetual calendar clocks' by Mr Gaius Coleman
Saturday 10 March	LECTURE: (Joint meeting with BHI) ‘Update on his Ptolemaic Orrery' by Archie McQuater
Saturday 14 April	LECTURE: (Joint meeting with BHI) ‘Collecting Pocket Watches' by a guest speaker
Saturday 28 April	LECTURE: ‘The middle temperature error and chronometers' by David Veitch

 

Programmes can be subject to change. For full details of time and location of the next meeting of this Section, please refer to the Society's main Programme page

Alternatively, please check with the AHS office to confirm dates and times.

Museums and Galleries:	Major Collections Open to the Public:
Kelvingrove Museum Callander House MacManus Gallery, Dundee Hunterian Museum Dunfermline Museum Perth Museum Huntly House Chambers Street Museum	Blair Castle Lauriston Castle Leith Hall Provost Skene's House Scone Palace Hopetoun House

 

September 2008 : Meeting Report

Horology and engineering clearly have much in common. This has been demonstrated by the interest shown by members in the talk on the Great Clock of Westminster in March 2008 and then in September when Keith Scobie-Youngs of Cumbria Clocks gave a glimpse into notable repairs and restoration contracts involving Turret Clocks. One suspects that an opportunity to see something of heavy engineering items provided a welcome change from more familiar horology.

Cumbria Clocks is one of the very few companies in the UK able to undertake work on historically important pieces. The earliest was the Salisbury Cathedral clock of 1386. Probably only the frame of the birdcage movement was original but the workmanship was of a remarkably high standard. The verge and foliot were replaced.

Restoration of the Hampton Court Palace astronomical clock, c.1540, presented a number of problems, particularly the wheelwork and the 9'6" diameter dial, parts of both necessitating extensive repair or replacement. Great care was taken to work to the highest conservation standards. Illustrations of the completed overhaul showed that these efforts had been highly successful.

A rather different type of contract involved the design and manufacture of a synchronous motor unit to drive the dials of the Great Clock of Westminster while the movement was undergoing its recent overhaul. Thanks to the liberal use of AUTOCAD, assembly, installation, and test of the unit proceeded surprisingly smoothly.

A most interesting contract involved the turret clock at Wythenshaw Hall. This had been virtually destroyed in a disastrous fire at the Hall, only two distorted plates and two pillars having survived. Subsequently an insurance claim was lodged for a replacement movement to be a replica of the original. Again, AUTOCAD was extensively used, followed by laser-cutting of the plates. The wheel trains and tooth forms were accurately laid out by computer, the tooth profiles being used to make fly-cutters. These were satisfactory for wheel-cutting but not for pinions. Fortunately a source of multitooth pinion cutters was found. A feature of the dead-beat escapement was that the escape wheel was of an early design to prevent the pallets "bottoming" when the reaction from the strike mechanism caused the pendulum arc to increase. The complete movement was assembled without the need for any significant amount of fitting and adjustment, clear proof of the benefits of computerisation. The total cost of the project, however, came as a shock to the insurers.

Keith showed some ingenious examples of automatic winding, the dearth of clockwinders making this a necessity in many cases. Unfortunately, "automatic winding" has often been achieved by disposing of the movement and replacing it with a synchronous motor. Keith strongly deprecated this reprehensible practice, which has caused many fine movements to be needlessly lost to posterity.

The variety of work encountered in his repair and restoration contracts aroused much interest among the audience and led to a spirited discussion session. A return visit is keenly anticipated.

 

October 2008 : Meeting Report

On this occasion, members welcomed an Edinburgh speaker - Nick Sanders, Chairman of the East of Scotland Branch of the BHI. His subject was 'Electric Clocks' which he finds irresistibly fascinating, particularly those from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

With the help of some excellent illustrations he covered a wide range of pendulum-controlled examples, beginning with one, c.1870, by the Edinburgh maker Frederick James Ritchie. This had been part of the celebrated time indication system installed in the Carlton Hill Observatory. An electrical signal was carried by a 4200ft single span wire to a field gun on Edinburgh Castle ramparts, causing the gun to fire at 1p.m. each day. Unfortunately, much of the clock was missing, but the pendulum and its consequent-pole impulsing magnet were still intact.

A Stewart regulator with its continuously moving seconds hand was of significant interest in that the movement was driven by a small DC motor whose speed was regulated by the pendulum. Other makers were represented by the well-known Synchronome, the reliable Pulsynetic, the Hipp toggle Magneta, and many more.

Examples of slave clocks were plentiful, including a fully flameproof model for use in flammable atmospheres.

As well as collecting historic electric clocks, Nick also uses his considerable electronic and computer skills to design and make simple detachable units to bring some of his collection to life, thus greatly enhancing their attraction and demonstrating some remarkably accurate performances. In addition he has built several clocks of his own design, some with ingenious self-correcting timekeeping features.

Not surprisingly, Nick’s talk was followed by a lengthy discussion session covering many aspects of electrical horology from the mid nineteenth century to the present day, much interest being shown in the present proliferation of time standards and their practical applications. Many questions were expertly fielded by Nick who was accorded a very enthusiastic vote of thanks. By way of a bonus he let it be known that aspiring collectors could indulge their hobby at very modest cost, provided they kept a sharp lookout for historic items on demolition sites, scrap heaps and in junk shops.