# English Astronomical Longcase Clock C 1780



## T5aus (Feb 16, 2008)

I thought this might interest a few clock people. I picked it up at auction here in Brisbane a few months ago, quite a find, just finished getting it working again. It has a complicated moon feature and the curved slides in the top arch to the right and left I think give the daily sun rise and set times. The whole of the back blue area is the night sky on a big disc which does a daily rotation. Set within that disk is the smaller moon disk which also rotates independently, giving the daily changes in the moon phases. Below in the main dial can be seen a brass date hand as well as the hour and minute hands. The two smaller central dials are interesting too. The bottom one indicates the months and the top one indicates when the sun is "faster" and when it is "slower" and includes a load of odd numbers which I believe indicate the equation of time and described here from wikipedia " The equation of time was used historically to set clocks. Between the invention of accurate clocks in 1656 and the advent of commercial time distribution services around 1900, one of two common land-based ways to set clocks was by observing the passage of the sun across the local meridian at noon. The moment the sun passed overhead, the clock was set to noon, offset by the number of minutes given by the equation of time for that date. (The second method did not use the equation of time; instead, it used stellar observations to give sidereal time, in combination with the relation between sidereal time and solar time.) The equation of time values for each day of the year, compiled by astronomical observatories, were widely listed in almanacs and ephemerides" This has certainly had us all in the clock collecting fraternity here scratching our heads, any Astronomer types or otherwise out there care to comment 
Thanks
Phil


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## Eeeb (Jul 12, 2007)

Wow. This is a gem of a post! Thanks!!!

I have never really tried to figure out the Equation of Time. This is the first reference that makes me curious. I'll see if some of the more scientifically oriented folks are interested.

As to the clock... an interesting piece of work. Much like wristwatches, the market seems to value the casing. Here is is in excellent shape - complete as far as I can see. But the mechanism is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, even if it lacks twirly things like wristwatches. :-d

How did you date it? Aside from cleaning and oiling, were there any challenges in getting it working again?

Many thanks for posting!


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## T5aus (Feb 16, 2008)

Hi Eeeb, thanks for your interest. A clock repairer friend of mine serviced it and said it was in very good condition, just needed a clean, new gut lines and a wee drop of oil. The moon phase seems to rotate correctly and the slides seem to function too. The equation hand also moves as does the calendar hand but it's early days yet and I am doing photo's of it over a period of months just to see at what pace they all move. I notice the calendar hand does miss on a couple of dates, ie gets stuck which could be just a worn pin or tooth. I dated it from case and dial style as well as getting his working dates from the Baillies reference book
Cheers Phil


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## Eeeb (Jul 12, 2007)

The crew in HAQ is discussing this general topic in this thread on Astronomy Clocks...


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## river rat (Apr 6, 2008)

Congrats nice Longcase clock.There's a vintage clock shop in town and he has a few older longcase clocks made about the time yours was all ways good to look at.I would of bought one but I have no room in the house for it.


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## T5aus (Feb 16, 2008)

Just letting everyone know, I have sadly decided to move this magical piece of horological history along, just not a good place for it to be on a surf beach in Queensland. I am not sure if I am able to say where it's listed so in covert speak, it's on the bay. (please delete mods if I am out of line)


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## compressornew (Nov 23, 2013)

T5aus said:


> I thought this might interest a few clock people. I picked it up at auction here in Brisbane a few months ago, quite a find, just finished getting it working again. It has a complicated moon feature and the curved slides in the top arch to the right and left I think give the daily sun rise and set times. The whole of the back blue area is the night sky on a big disc which does a daily rotation. Set within that disk is the smaller moon disk which also rotates independently, giving the daily changes in the moon phases. Below in the main dial can be seen a brass date hand as well as the hour and minute hands. The two smaller central dials are interesting too. The bottom one indicates the months and the top one indicates when the sun is "faster" and when it is "slower" and includes a load of odd numbers which I believe indicate the equation of time and described here from wikipedia " The equation of time was used historically to set clocks. Between the invention of accurate clocks in 1656 and the advent of commercial time distribution services around 1900, one of two common land-based ways to set clocks was by observing the passage of the sun across the local meridian at noon. The moment the sun passed overhead, the clock was set to noon, offset by the number of minutes given by the equation of time for that date. (The second method did not use the equation of time; instead, it used stellar observations to give sidereal time, in combination with the relation between sidereal time and solar time.) The equation of time values for each day of the year, compiled by astronomical observatories, were widely listed in almanacs and ephemerides" This has certainly had us all in the clock collecting fraternity here scratching our heads, any Astronomer types or otherwise out there care to comment
> Thanks
> Phil


I like this watch.Thanks for sharing rare moments with us.


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## T5aus (Feb 16, 2008)

Wow, 2 years later and I only just spotted your comment, thanks and sorry to take so long in replying


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