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SZR.37
Grandfather clock
We call it “Mascherone”, the big mask, after the large carving at the top, above the moon phase. The crest is screwed on: take it off and the clock becomes lower and plainer.
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 214 cm · width 57 cm · depth 34 cm
- Wood
- Hand-carved tulipwood for columns, scrolls, fan and base; plain parts and back in MDF veneered in Tanganyika; solid wood door
- Finish
- Semi-gloss walnut, water-based, with a nitro top coat
- 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
- Westminster every quarter hour
- Dial
- Moon phase dial by the German firm Jaeckle
- Pendulum
- Brass lyre pendulum and brass weights by Jaeckle
- Other
- Carved crest screwed on, can be removed; 5 mm brass-leaded door glass; bevelled arched glass above; 2 locks; the hood slides forward like a drawer
How it is made
The name comes from the large fan carving that frames the moon phase. The carved parts are tulipwood: the soft columns with scrolls above and below, on the hood and on the body, and the carvings on the base. The plain parts and the back panel are MDF veneered in Tanganyika. We finish the back separately: it holds the whole case together and keeps it aligned over the years.
First Carlo roughs out the wood on the machine, guiding it by hand, and removes what is not needed. Then Franco carves it by hand and we sand it well, so the carving stays soft and even. The door is solid wood, with 5 mm brass-leaded glass made by Giovanni Casella; the upper glass is bevelled all round too. Stefano finishes the whole case in semi-gloss walnut, water-based with a nitro top coat.
The Kieninger movement plays the Westminster chime every quarter hour and can stay silent at night. The moon moves on one click a day and shows whether it is waning, new, waxing or full: knowing when the next full moon would come once helped people travel at night. It is wound once a week by pulling the chains, and each weight drops about 12 cm a day. To reach the movement, the hood slides forward like a drawer.
