This dial and movement came from a clock made by Thomas Whiteside
of Lexington, VA. It was made around 1779, making it one of the
earliest clocks made in America. It is one of only a dozen or so
made by Whiteside, and the only one on which he signed the dial.
The dial shows both Whiteside's
name and that of Thomas Lynch, who was the original purchaser of
the clock. Descendants of Lynch still own the clock today.
As with other brass clocks of this era, the movement
also features heavy brass plates (side
view, exploded view). It also
has a heavy iron cup bell on top that produces quite a loud hour
strike.
We gave this clock a movement overhaul, and made small modifications
to re-enable operation of the moon-phase dial which hadn't worked
in years. We also replaced anachronistic modern bushings with the
same sort of "invisible" bushings provided on the Dent
clock.
On the advice of experts from the NAWCC, we also replaced the frayed
brass weight cables (not original) with stainless steel cables.
While stainless steel is anachronistic -- gut cable would have been
used -- this was not a museum clock; it was in constant daily use.
Stainless steel provides a more reliable cable with less chance
that the weights will fall and damage the antique case.
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