Early Synchronome controlling clock, 1907

Overview

This is a controlling clock made by the Synchronome Company to an early 1907 patent featuring a gravity lever and a countwheel: every thirty seconds, a deeper tooth on the countwheel causes the lever to fall and drop a large brass impulse roller onto a steel strip on top of a brass impulse pallet at the top of the pendulum. This clock has the appearance of having been adapted and reworked: two superfluous holes above the back plate suggest the movement was adapted from an earlier Synchronome clock, while the steel strip on top of the pallet appears to have been added retrospectively to avoid contact between brass roller and brass pallet. It is possible it was further adapted later in its life: its ceramic-clad damping resistor and fabric-based sleeving are more typical of the 1940s. Synchronome had abandoned this movement design by the end of 1907, possibly to avoid dispute with the rival company Gent, who had patented a very similar electrically reset gravity escapement the same year.