Day 61
March 2, 2010Day 62
March 3, 2010Day 87
March 28, 2010Day 91
April 1, 2010Day 95
April 6, 2010Day 96
April 6, 2010This is the face of ‘Harry’ our arched dial longcase clock with a glazed trunk door in English Oak. His proper name is ‘Henry James’.
His hand engraved brass and silver dial was lovingly made in Sheffield. The hand engraving is a special skill synonymous with the metal working heritage of Sheffield, and a decoration that can be found on clocks from the eighteenth century.
In essence hand engraving is the art of removing metal by cutting with a small chisel held in one’s hand. The special quality of hand engraving which differs from machine engraving is that not only is each one unique but the grooves cut become calligraphic and not symmetrical. Also an engraver can have true artistic abilities such as can be clearly seen. In today’s world of automation it is a unique enhancement and probably not seen on any other clocks made today.
Mark Laverton is one of the few craftsmen still making clocks by hand. He starts from solid oak and builds every component, only the movements are bought in from Germany (Hermle). Each one of his Grandfather clocks being an individual starts off life with its own name, so he knows who has gone where.
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