Less Mysterious

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What do you read in bed at night? 

Me, typically mysteries/detective/crime fiction.

But these day's I've been buried in Thorpe.

When was that Japy made? Does it really matter?

Perhaps not but the sleuthing is a pleasure.

Deep in a section about clock disassembly I discover the following:

"... take a close look at the front plate, where most repairers will have left their signatures." 

Precisely where this Japy is signed.

Furthermore there are 4 places where Thorpe specifically discusses silk suspensions and the transition to the use of the Brocot suspension. His dating and related language wobbles ever so slightly thusly:

  • Page 61: The Brocot suspension "became widely used around 1850."
  • Page 77: "... after 1850, the spring suspension was gradually introduced."
  • Page 85: "Although introduced in 1840, [the Brocot suspension] is not widely seen in clocks dated before about 1860."
  • Page 166: Silk suspensions were "used extensively until 1860, when the Brocot became universally popular."
But that last bullet really summarizes it best.

So...

Given the date of the makers mark, 1855...


And what we now likely know that it is a repairers signature with that date of June 1871...

And we now know that silk suspensions were getting whisked out of the room by 1860...

I think I will stand by my estimate of late-1850's as the date our Japy Freres came to life.

Je le penserais.

Comments

  1. SaknussemSeptember 30, 2020 at 12:21 PM

    I Second the Motion. All in Favor say Aye. Motion Carries.

    ReplyDelete

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