I built this clock from a kit bought from Devon Clocks. Devon Clocks had a small factory in Exmouth (they no longer exist). The kit was comprehensive, and my work mostly comprised finishing and polishing the brass parts, assembling the beast and setting it to work – this took me about 6 weeks. It’s a thing of beauty, but it’s hard to keep running and its time-keeping is appalling. This is largely because of the mechanism, which is based on an oscillator mechanism rather than on a resonator (like a pendulum) that has a natural frequency. It a relies on a rolling steel ball for timekeeping, which runs down a zigzag grooved plate; naturally, the mechanism is very sensitive to dust, friction, temperature and so on.
Having said this, the clock really is fascinating, and I’m very fond of it.
