A Revolutionary Watch

As regulars will know, I just love watches, especially mechanical ones.

On Thursday evening, I attended a meeting of the Clock Group from the Harlow area of University of the Third Age.

Local Clock and Watches expert David Penney was there from the Antique Watch Store, who proceeded to show everyone a number of his watches.

One of the most amazing, was an antique French revolutionary pocket watch, which has two time zones - conventional GMT time and 'decimal' time, as the leaders of the Revolution had attempted to change the time of day into ten hours.

He also showed us a Smith wristwatch, which was produced in England up until the Second World War. Our country used to have a proud tradition of watch making but lost out to the Swiss, party because of the invention of machinery, which the industry failed to adopt, partly because watch-makers switched to make war machinery for the war effort.

I have spoken before in the House of Commons about the decline of British Horology and you can read more Here:

http://roberthalfon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/history-of-watch-and-clock-making-in-uk.html?m=1

At present there are only a few British watch makers and they produce individual watches costing many thousands of pounds. Windmill watches, painstakingly handmade in Essex, are more affordable - beautiful and unique - but have Swiss automatic movements (http://www.jandtwindmills.com/).

Sadly, most watchmaking has moved to the Far East, where the components are made cheaply, whilst luxury mechanical watches still have their main home in Switzerland.

It was a good evening with the clock group. To see the intricate hand-made mechanics of pocket watched produced hundreds of years ago is something very special - especially to hear the ticking noises and watch the rotation of the springs and wheels.

The attached photos are just a small illustration of what I saw and of the watches some members had. The clock in the picture is an antique which formerly was housed in the the Savoy Hotel.

Backing Churchill Time

Today, I backed 'Churchill Time' : a Parliamentary bill to objectively look at the benefits of moving the clocks forward by one hour, a move which he says could save lives and create jobs in Harlow

The bill called on the Government to conduct a comprehensive review of the costs and benefits of putting clocks forward an hour throughout the UK, resulting in lighter evenings every day of the year.

I am in favour of what I call 'Churchill time'. During the second world war, Churchill moved the clocks forward by an hour to maximise production at munitions factories, and to ensure people were able to get home safely before the blackout in winter.

This emergency measure was removed after the war but it worked brilliantly at the time. Lighter evenings would be good for Harlow, and good for Britain.

The arguments in favour of clock change are compelling. This one simple low-cost policy could bring wide ranging benefits to the whole of the UK including saving lives on our roads, creating much needed jobs in the tourism sector and reducing the fear of crime on dark evenings.

Supporters argue that lighter evenings would save lives on the roads by making more of the busiest evening rush hours occur in daylight, create jobs by boosting the tourism sector, and make many people especially older people feel safer going out in the evenings for longer.

Sadly, even this modest Bill - which just called for a pilot study in certain areas - was stopped by a small handful of Parliamentarians, who did everything they could to filibuster the legislation as it was being discussed.  As a result the proposals ran out of Parliamentary time.

For more about the idea visit www.lighterlater.org

Revival of British Horology stopped by Quango

Britain used to lead the world in Horology. In the seventeenth and eigtheenth centuries, English clock and watch makers were much in abundance - in the same way that Swiss watchmakers are today. It was John Harrison who solved the problem of Longitude with his Maritime clock. It was the Great Fire of the London that destroyed more than 160 great premises of clockmakers. This and a number of other reasons led to Switzerland gradually overtaking Britain and becoming the centre for great horology: a place it occupies to this day.



In recent years there has been a resurgence of British Horology. English watch maker George Daniels has revolutionised mechanical watch-making by inventing the co-axial escapement that has transformed mechanical watches. This mechanism reduces friction in a watch, ensures greater accuracy and much less need for servicing of the parts. It has been adopted primarily by Omega, and the co-axial escapement is now incorporated in all their automatic watches.

At a different level, the new Joseph and Thomas Windmills Company (named after the two great 17th & 18th Century English horologists of that name), has been established in order to create for the British consumer, an affordable mechanical watch - hand-made in England (albeit with a Swiss movement inside). Windmill watches are displayed in the Clockmakers Museum in London's Guildhall and well worth a look. They all have classic British designs and hark back to our golden era of watch making.

So I was disappointed to see that, despite this modest revival in British Horology, the Skills Funding Agency have arbitrarily cut funding for two key courses in Horology - the only two of its kind in the United Kingdom. This is despite the growing demand for these courses, and the wider interest in horology.

I have tabled a House of Commons Motion opposing this unnecessary and damaging decision:

"That this House is concerned that the funding available for the two accredited qualifications for clock and watchmaking offered by the awarding body EMTA Awards Ltd (EAL) in conjunction with the British Horological Institute have had their funding cut by the Skills Funding Agency with effect from 31 July 2010 without adequate consultation or a proper notice period; is further concerned that there was a very short and inadequately advertised window of opportunity in which to object; notes that there is an existing and growing demand for these qualifications, both from students and the watch and clock service industry; further notes that the cuts in funding could threaten the existence of the last course available in the UK leading to accredited qualifications for training clock and watchmakers at Birmingham City University; believes that this centre of horological excellence provides a unique opportunity to prepare students to service clocks and the rapidly increasing number of hi-tech complicated watches, which is a growth industry; further believes that such niche qualifications in highly specialised trades are valuable to British industry; and calls on the Government to review this decision, in light of the rich and centuries-old tradition of clock and watchmaking in the British Isles, and also in light of the jobs and economic growth offered by the sector.

I have also written to Government Ministers about this and hope to do an Adjournment Debate on supporting British Horology, sometime when the Parliamentary Recess ends. We should be backing the resugence of British Clock and watchmakers - not trying to stifle it.

P.S. For a brief summary of the history British clock and watch making, click on HERE

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Birthday Treats

As I can't sleep - too much coffee as usual, I thought readers might like to know how I celebrated my birthday on Sunday. For those who don't know me, I reached 40 years on 22 March!

Well, the best part of my day came when my wonderful girlfriend Vanda made a surprise breakfast of venison sausages and eggs together with coffee and cranberry juice. Just in case that wasn't enough, there was toast, brie and pate too. I should note that this giant breakfast came just after an equally huge dinner at one of my favourite restaurants - Francos in Roydon. Yet I still had a good appetite.

After breakfast we drove down to Greenwich as we had planned to see some shows at the Planetarium and also to see the John Harrison clocks. I am a mad collector of watches so was really pleased to be doing this.

Arriving at Greenwich was such a joy. The sun was shining, Blackheath looked beautiful and we got a parking place right outside the Observatory. In all the car journey from Harlow took only 45 minutes.

The Planetarium shows were incredible- in 3D without the need for funny glasses. I now know about the Stars, the Sky at Night and Mars - well at least a little more than I did when I was 39. The best joke I heard was from one of the presenters, who told the audience "don't bother to switch off your mobiles, as they won't work anyway, as we are under tonnes of concrete"!

We had lunch in the gardens of a wonderful tearoom in the sunshine taking in the view of Canary Wharf and the Dome.

After, Vanda insisted on being photographed on the exact spot of Greenwich Mean Time, so we had to wait in a long queue. But it didn't matter, as I sneaked into the museum shop!

Going into the house which holds the Clocks was amazing. John Harrison was one of the great geniuses having solved the problem of ships navigation and longitude. In essence he developed the first ever GMT clock. He took over thirty years to build the device and had many obstacles to overcome on the way. The clocks and watches that John Harrison built are quite a feat of human ingenuity. More so because they were made in the 18th Century.

So, after Greenwich, for something completely different, we made our way to the Rain Forest Cafe in Central London. This was a great place and good fun with moving gorillas and roaring tigers very near our table. I was shocked to read from the menu that rainforest has gone down from 14% of the earth's surface a few years ago, to just 6% today.

All in all a wonderful day. One of the best birthdays I have ever had.