VR-364 Miniature Week-duration Vienna Regulator with Indicating Pendulum
Half an inch per day - that is how much the weight drops on this exquisite little gem. Only 23.5 inches long, yet still weight-driven and a week-duration! As you look at the pictures it is very hard to realize how small the mechanism and other mechanical bits really are. And how perfectly made. The best way to think of these miniature week-duration pieces is as month runners. They wind backwards, just like a month runner, and they have an extra gear in the gear train, just like the month runners. In a standard case, with 20 inches of weight drop it would run 40 days. In its miniature case, with just over 4 inches, it will run 8 days.
Pictures have a hard time showing the quality of this clocks workings. I particularly like the crutch pins (granted dirty, and rusty, but they will restore ever so perfectly), the construction of the faux-grid iron pendulum, with screws that belong in a watch and far nicer construction than you ever, ever find in the typical pendulums of this genre, the operation of the pendulum rating dial - picture setting a watch! Usually there is some play in the adjustment - you turn the nut and the indicator hand doesn’t move right away. This one is phenomenally well made - very precise and tight. In fact, the back of the bob is brass, perfectly fit, explaining how the maker was able to achieve such a perfect operation of the indicating pendulum bob.
The Viennese mechanism is as one would expect - the best description is to once again compare to a watch. Pinions, pivots, gears all of a quality appropriate for a watch. The picture of the gears in the mechanism also shows the winding drum, with its knurled end cap. The little details one can see from the outside of a mechanism are harbingers of the quality within. Details like the beautifully constructed crutch pins, the winding drum end cap, the double-rimmed wall stabilizer knobs, half-inch per day weight drop; these are the indicators that one is dealing with a truly great maker, not just average, and definitely not factory made.
Details like these are what collecting Vienna Regulators is all about once a collector graduates from the German factory pieces. And no, to my mind it is not names, like Marenzeller or Schoenberger. It is recognizing the quality of the piece - and the innovation shown by the maker. Even when evaluating a piece with a “Name” on the dial - the question has to be how well made is the clock. For, even in the shops of the finest makers, there are pieces that never actually got to know the “Name”, but were made by apprentices to meet the public demand.
The case is in good condition, but would truly come to life when rejuvenated by SNClocks. The finish is very nice, but, like the mechanism, it is quite dirty. And yes, it needs a pair of finials to the corners of the base. But, all the glass is old, the finish in good shape - it will be stunning when cleaned and waxed.
Miniatures like this one are very seldom found - with the superb quality so well packed into such a small package. And, it is so very easy to find a place miniatures will adorn - they really are just the right size for that difficult spot.
Read MorePictures have a hard time showing the quality of this clocks workings. I particularly like the crutch pins (granted dirty, and rusty, but they will restore ever so perfectly), the construction of the faux-grid iron pendulum, with screws that belong in a watch and far nicer construction than you ever, ever find in the typical pendulums of this genre, the operation of the pendulum rating dial - picture setting a watch! Usually there is some play in the adjustment - you turn the nut and the indicator hand doesn’t move right away. This one is phenomenally well made - very precise and tight. In fact, the back of the bob is brass, perfectly fit, explaining how the maker was able to achieve such a perfect operation of the indicating pendulum bob.
The Viennese mechanism is as one would expect - the best description is to once again compare to a watch. Pinions, pivots, gears all of a quality appropriate for a watch. The picture of the gears in the mechanism also shows the winding drum, with its knurled end cap. The little details one can see from the outside of a mechanism are harbingers of the quality within. Details like the beautifully constructed crutch pins, the winding drum end cap, the double-rimmed wall stabilizer knobs, half-inch per day weight drop; these are the indicators that one is dealing with a truly great maker, not just average, and definitely not factory made.
Details like these are what collecting Vienna Regulators is all about once a collector graduates from the German factory pieces. And no, to my mind it is not names, like Marenzeller or Schoenberger. It is recognizing the quality of the piece - and the innovation shown by the maker. Even when evaluating a piece with a “Name” on the dial - the question has to be how well made is the clock. For, even in the shops of the finest makers, there are pieces that never actually got to know the “Name”, but were made by apprentices to meet the public demand.
The case is in good condition, but would truly come to life when rejuvenated by SNClocks. The finish is very nice, but, like the mechanism, it is quite dirty. And yes, it needs a pair of finials to the corners of the base. But, all the glass is old, the finish in good shape - it will be stunning when cleaned and waxed.
Miniatures like this one are very seldom found - with the superb quality so well packed into such a small package. And, it is so very easy to find a place miniatures will adorn - they really are just the right size for that difficult spot.
