When my uncle Albert Pascoe retired from being a Decorator, somehow, he shifted from making fishing gear in the shed, to working on repairing clocks. He eventually developed his skills into watch repairs. Not only did he take them apart and replace with new, he actually cut the toothed wheels, and made the spindles, cutting and making springs and escapements. Many a watch retained its original casing, but with new 'innards'. He found many clients and worked on many fine clocks. I have a firescreen (Cutty Sark) here that he cut and worked from brass. He was practising for this masterpiece. Having found a clock working with the calendar and moon dials, he set out to research just what type of case it should have. What you see here is entirely made by him, all wood carefully selected and worked, columns turned on a lather, the brass face with sail ships, inscribed numbers. This was no picnic, one mistake and it all would have to be started all over again. The case had to be made to accommodate the weights and pendulum (a highly delicate balance). The top case had to slide off frontways to expose the working case mechanism. The marquetry on the top arch, it was all expertly formed with patience, a quality that my uncle often found hard to find, but with clocks, they don't work very well being thrown at the wall. He even made the hinges out of brass plate, rolling and forming the captured pins. It is a a Long Case Clock. [The name 'grandfather clock' did not arrive until after 1876]. The mechanism dates from c 1800, and basically it is a break arch dial. Highly complex, beautifully made.
