The Plymouth Grandfather Clock is a superb reproduction of an 18th Century Longcase clock - it is in the style of an original by French of the Royal Exchange London.
The Plymouth is an Oakside Classic Clocks Limited edition Grandfather clock - we will only build ten each year! The Plymouth is 80 inches tall.
We build the Plymouth Grandfather clock in your choice of solid Walnut and Oak and you may specify a natural, medium or dark finish on the Oak. The cabinet is hand-sanded to a fine finish and we then apply five coats of Hard Lacquer, this is allowed to harden before we polish the clock to a beautiful satin sheen. The cabinet has four fluted Pillars supporting the Hood and fluted quarter Columns either side of the pendulum door. We fit bevelled glass to the side panels so that you can observe the actions of the superb Kieninger triple chiming movement and the hammers as they play the melodies and chime the hours. Traditionally, Longcase clocks had solid timber panels in the pendulum door and in the side panels - we can build the Plymouth with your specified combination of glass and solid panels, although, we do recommend glass in the top side panels so that you can view the movement in action!
For our premier Plymouth Longcase clock we required a very special movement - we selected the superb Kieninger® HTU 06 which is the highest specification mechanical movement in the Kieninger range. There is a photo of the HTU 06 on the Options and Prices page. The superb award winning HTU 06 plays the three melodies – Westminster, Whittington & St Michael on Nine Full Length, Polished Brass Tubular Bells.
THE HTU 06 movement has 12 Rubies and 32 bronze bushes carrying the moving parts. The polished brass drive weights are suspended on cables and have traditional crank key winding through the dial and are protected from accidental over-winding by a Maltese Cross mechanism. We fit the Temperature Compensating Pendulum as standard!
Manufacturing quality shows in every Kieninger movement. All movement plates are made of a special brass alloy that is hard and has a high tensile strength. The holes for the journals are reamed and smoothed after lacquering and then receive an oil sink. Pinions are made of high-quality steel or stainless steel. Fast turning pinions are hardened. All journals are roller burnished in a special process. The HTU movement feature thirty-two bronze-bushings and twelve jewels in critical positions. The gears are made of very tough and hard brass alloy with a tensile strength of 62 kp/mm². A high level of corrosion protection for all components is assured. Brass components are pickled and receive a coat of clear lacquer. Steel components are made from stainless steel or receive a galvanic nickel coating. Each movement also has a laser engraved serial number.
The gravitational pull on the three polished brass weights provides the power to drive the Chimes, the Pendulum and the Melodies. To ensure accurate time keeping, the movement has a dead-beat escapement (invented around 1675 by Richard Towneley and some forty years later used by George Graham FRS 1674 – 1751 in his precision regulator clocks), this impulses the Temperature Compensating Pendulum (invented by John Harrison of Longitude fame 1693 – 1776) and as with all superior clock movements, the time drive is fitted with a maintaining power mechanism to drive the pendulum while the weights are being re-wound. There is also an automatic device fitted to ensure an equal sounding tick
We fit as standard the Temperature Compensating Pendulum with a 220mm polished brass bob. We have now developed a sophisticated electronic instrument that monitors the swing of the pendulum and provides an extremely accurate beat readout - this allows us to adjust the pendulum length when commissioning your clock so that it will it will provide very precise time-keeping.
For the Plymouth we have commissioned four very special, solid-brass Moon Phase dials.
All dials have two selection levers, these controls the Hour Chimes and the three melodies Westminster, Whittington & St. Michael. The lever on the left controls the hour chimes and provides the options of Silent, Automatic Night Off (22-15 and 07.15) or continuous Chiming. The lever on the right allows you to select your choice of the Melody or Silent!
Dial option one is polished solid brass with an applied silver chapter ring and raised brass Roman numerals, a brass centre disk with engraved decorations and with a subsidiary seconds dial, four polished cast brass corners spandrels and a moving moon dial that tracks the phases of the real moon as it Waxes and Wanes from New Moon to Old!
Dial option two is polished solid brass with an applied silver chapter ring and raised brass Arabic numerals, a brass centre disk with engraved decorations and a subsidiary seconds dial. four polished cast brass corners spandrels and a moving moon dial that tracks the phases of the real moon as it Waxes and Wanes from New Moon to Old!
Dial option three is a reproduction of 1750s style painted Moon Phase dial, it is made of solid brass that is painted white with traditional black painted Roman and Arabic numerals, the hand decorated details and corners are applied by our artist and there is a subsidiary seconds Dial and completed with a moving moon dial that tracks the phases of the real moon as it Waxes and Wanes from New Moon to Old!
Dial option four is a very high quality reproduction of an original 1750s moon phase dial. It is made of solid brass with an applied silver plated brass chapter ring decorated with painted Roman & Arabic numerals, a silver-plated brass centre disk with etched décor and a subsidiary seconds dial and the dial is fitted with cast and polished brass corners spandrels – the moving moon dial tracks the phases of the real moon as it Waxes and Wanes from New Moon to Old!