A very rare late 19th century oak cased floorstanding regulator of exceptional quality and small size
Victor Kullberg, London No 6553. Further engraved 'Maker to the Admiralty, Diploma of Honour Vienna 1873' and 'Nine Gold Medals awarded from 1868 to 1889, Diploma of Honour Paris 1875'
The case:
of arched form and constructed of solid oak, the door uprights cut in a such a way as to accentuate the medullary rays of the timber, on a flat fronted base, the front door with long glass panel and two locks, set inside with a carved and pierced apron to frame the dial, the backboard with an overlaid arched mask set with a silvered engraved beat scale, most unusually, the right hand side of the interior is mounted with a metal pipe through which the weight descends. The movement and pendulum are both supported by a massive brass bracket mounted to the backboard by six large blued steel screws; the pendulum suspension piece is fixed by three further screws to this and the movement slides on to a pair of shaped brackets
The movement:
extremely substantial and set on a massive brass seatboard with facetted edges that slide into a pair of runners emanating from the backboard and secured with three heavy knurled nuts, the tall rectangular plates measuring 3/16ths of an inch in thickness and united by six heavy turned pillars screwed to the front and back, with jewelled pallets to the deadbeat 'scape wheel screwed to the pallet arbor and set in triple-screwed jewelled chatons, with further endstops throughout, further fitted with maintaining power and micrometer beat regulation to the top of the long steel crutch, to the mercury jar pendulum with steel and zinc rod
The dial:
12 inches in diameter and framed by a heavy silvered sight ring, boldly signed and numbered across the centre, the concentric Arabic minute track enclosing the subsidiary seconds ring with Observatory Marks and subsidiary dial for Roman hours, all with blued steel hands, the minute hand counterweighted behind the dial,
1m 79.5cms (5ft 10.75in)
The case:
of arched form and constructed of solid oak, the door uprights cut in a such a way as to accentuate the medullary rays of the timber, on a flat fronted base, the front door with long glass panel and two locks, set inside with a carved and pierced apron to frame the dial, the backboard with an overlaid arched mask set with a silvered engraved beat scale, most unusually, the right hand side of the interior is mounted with a metal pipe through which the weight descends. The movement and pendulum are both supported by a massive brass bracket mounted to the backboard by six large blued steel screws; the pendulum suspension piece is fixed by three further screws to this and the movement slides on to a pair of shaped brackets
The movement:
extremely substantial and set on a massive brass seatboard with facetted edges that slide into a pair of runners emanating from the backboard and secured with three heavy knurled nuts, the tall rectangular plates measuring 3/16ths of an inch in thickness and united by six heavy turned pillars screwed to the front and back, with jewelled pallets to the deadbeat 'scape wheel screwed to the pallet arbor and set in triple-screwed jewelled chatons, with further endstops throughout, further fitted with maintaining power and micrometer beat regulation to the top of the long steel crutch, to the mercury jar pendulum with steel and zinc rod
The dial:
12 inches in diameter and framed by a heavy silvered sight ring, boldly signed and numbered across the centre, the concentric Arabic minute track enclosing the subsidiary seconds ring with Observatory Marks and subsidiary dial for Roman hours, all with blued steel hands, the minute hand counterweighted behind the dial,
1m 79.5cms (5ft 10.75in)
Sold for
£13,200
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance:
Robert Sutherland Esq, Southbar House, Renfrewshire and thence by family descent to the present owner.
Sutherland was the Chairman of the whisky manufacturing company Bullock Lade & Co., Ltd. He was an active collector of art and antiques in the late 19th and early 20th century, buying from home and abroad.
This Kullberg regulator is recorded in the Kullberg workshop records as having been bought by Sutherland on 9th July 1899 for £56 and being in his possession by 22nd August. It has remained in the family since then.
Victor Kullberg was probably the finest watch and chronometer maker of the late 19th century. The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich have two examples used to operate time balls. Another, a wall mounted example, is illustrated in Roberts, 'English Precision Pendulum Clocks', Schiffer, 2003 plate 23-9.
Category: Clocks and Watches / Clocks
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