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SZR.17
Grandfather clock
Built like the furniture in the Doges' homes of the 18th century, in olive wood from Apulia and Lake Garda. Cross-grain mouldings, bevelled glass and a fir board back lined in green velvet.
A clock that is yours alone. Wood, finish, colour and melody: we start from this model and finish it together, the way you want it.
- Dimensions
- Height 208 cm · width 68 cm · depth 38 cm · weight 70 kg
- Wood
- Apulian and Lake Garda olive wood in 5 mm pieces, laid with fish glue and small nails on a maple board frame; cross-grain mouldings; fir board back
- Finish
- Shellac, 10 to 14 coats by hand; light nitro finish for export; green velvet interior
- Movement
- German Kieninger mechanical movement in brass; weekly chain winding (up to 10 days); switchable night silencer from 10 pm to 7:15 am
- Chime
- Three melodies to choose from, on 8 notes: Westminster, Whittington, St Michael; hour strike
- Dial
- Moon phase dial by the German firm Jaeckle
- Pendulum
- Brass lyre pendulum and brass weights by Jaeckle
- Other
- 5 mm hand-bevelled glass; flat embroidered green braid; two small side doors on the hood with hinges from caskets and jewellery boxes; new locks and keys; the hood lifts off upwards; bottle of straw-coloured oil included
How it is made
It is a Venetian “Ca' Rezzonico” clock, with the build and finish of the upper-class homes of the Republic of Venice. The wood is carefully chosen olive from Apulia and Lake Garda: we cut it into 5 mm pieces and lay them on a frame of maple boards, with fish glue and thousands of small nails. The mouldings are cross-grain, so the figure breaks up and catches the eye at once.
There is no varnish on top, only shellac, which protects the wood from oxidation and lets you feel the grain under your fingers. It takes 10 to 14 coats, laid by the founder or by Mrs Ambrosi depending on the wood: old wood, perhaps a hundred years, that we chose for this clock more than forty years ago. Open the doors and you see the thickness of the veneer, the soft wood beneath and the small nails. Mrs Daniela, our co-founder, lines the inside with green velvet; the flat embroidered green braid round the glass covers the thick maple of the doors.
Over the years small marks appear between the pieces: the wood moves with heat, cold and humidity, and that is how the case is built, not a defect. We include a bottle of straw-coloured oil to keep feeding the wood; for export Giorgio adds a light nitro finish. The door arch is low because the originals had no moon phase: they stood in grand Venetian homes, not along travellers' roads. The Kieninger movement offers three chimes, Westminster, Whittington and St Michael, and is wound once a week by pulling the chains.
