On a beautiful late October day the British Horological Institute held its annual fall day, highlighting student achievements, lectures and an open day for the public to tour the institute and its grounds. Located in Newark, Upton is the ideal setting of English countryside at its finest to view some of Britain’s most prized horological masterpieces.

The highlights of the day for me, beyond exceptional student achievements, were talks led by conservation horologist Geoeffry Walker and the director of the horological program at West Dean College, UK Matthew Read. In addition, I had a face to face with the head tutor of the clocks conservation program at West Dean; discussed were the world wide strategies of his new clocks mechanism conservation program.

Geoeffry Walker led an in depth lecture/power point on conservation using the “PUK” micro-argon welder. This welder can melt drops of hard steel under the microscope for conservation of rebuilding pallets, pinions and pivots, whose objective is to maintain as much of the original clock components as possible. The welder has become over 30% of Walker’s weekly horological work. The price for this system in the US is about $6-7,000.00.

Matthew Read spoke of his conservation efforts of the 18th century object’D’art “The Silver Swan”. Read, a European renowned conservator, set up his workstations at the Bowes Museum in the UK. This new approach in museum laboratory conservation puts the museum going public right in the middle, causing them to make more trips to the museum to admire the restoration process from the beginning to the end; thus keeping the public involved. This promotes higher and more frequent donations.

The Silver Swan dates from 1773. The internal mechanism is by John Joseph Merlin. The life-sized swan is controlled by three different clock mechanisms. The silver swan rests on a stream of twisted glass rods interspersed with silver fish. When the mechanism is wound-up, the glass rods rotate, the music begins, the swan twists it’s head to the left and right and appears to preen it’s back. It then appears to sight a fish in the water below and bend down to catch it, which it then swallows as the music stops and it resumes the upright position. The swan ran for the first thirty years of its life. Restorers from then until 2011 could not make the swan operate properly until Read took on the challenge.

A talk with Trevor Waddington revealed details of the clock mechanism conservation course at West Dean College. Details for the 2012 program can be found on West Dean’s web site.

During October, I paid a guest visit to Royal Crown Derby in Derby U.K., witnessing today’s manufacture of the finest bone china in the world. Of particular interest is the application of 22k gold decoration by hand and how it is sealed to the surface. I will provide a brief history of the last of the elite bone china manufacturers in the world:

1750 - Huguenot, Andrew Planche established the first china works in Derby U.K., utilizing 50% bone in the china mixture.

1770 - Gaining a partner Duebury, they purchased Chelsea China-Works and the Bow Molds, bringing hundreds of skilled craftsmen to Derby creating the “Second Dresden”.

1775 - King George awarded the factory with a backstamp and Queen Victoria gave Crown Derby the Royal approval; hence their new title “The Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company”.

1780 - Great developments were made in body, glaze, potting and decoration applied with perhaps the greatest group of ceramic artists ever assembled.

1797 - Duebury died, the company lost leadership, artisans left resulting in a decline of the company.

1811 - Robert Bloor took control of the porcelin factory, rebuilding a team of very fine painters. 1877 - The present day factory was rebuilt, gas furnaces added, new techniques were added, raised gilding, rich Persian and Indian colors and motifs.

1890 - Factory was appointed “Manufacturers of Porcelain to Her Majesty”.

1964 - Royal Crown acquired by the Pearson family.

Today, Royal Derby is the epitome of bone porcelain manufacturers, one of only a handful in the world, with a history of manufacturing at the same location since 1750.

On November 16, 2011 Gregg returned to Mechanicsburg, PA to address chapter #158 of the NAWCC-in typical fashion the night began with a wonderful meal at the Messiah community center.

He presented two separate and distinctive power points; the restoration of a brass clock dial and his recent trip to an archeological laboratory in Nottingham, U.K..

The dial restoration also included traditional sand-casting in bronze in a 18th century forge started 8 generations ago in Paris, France. The explanation of forging terminated with mercury gilding (bronze doré), which Paris is one of the few legal places in the world today that the process can be performed. These Parisian artisans (forgers, gilders and chasers) have trained and executed the majority of the Getty Museum’s Bronze Doré Surfaces). Perry also explained how he creates missing engraving, wax filling and dial silvering.

The second power point brought to light a recent journey to Nottingham University in the U.K. This build upon the recent courses he attended at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation. He is delving into the scientific world of metalurgy, ultimately trying to determine the approximate date and authenticity of the brass components of the 17th-18th century clocks that he restores. He witnessed at the Nottingham Laboratory, sampling, encasing (preparation) and examination under the Polarizing Light Microscope of 1,500 year old bronze Persian objects of art. Determinations from this process are as follows: originals versus fakes, lead globulals, annealing and forging lines.

After the presentation there was a brief question and answer session.