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SZR.BB
Grandfather clock
A faithful, almost perfectly scaled reproduction of the Big Ben clock tower on the Thames in London. And it sounds like it: its melody, the Westminster chime, became the standard sound of the home pendulum clock.
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 258 cm · width 43 cm · depth 26 cm
- Wood
- Solid American tulipwood; plain parts veneered in Tanganyika; more than 1,000 pieces worked on at least 3 sides
- Finish
- Deep medium walnut nitro, catalysed semi-gloss, water-based
- Movement
- German Kieninger mechanical movement in brass, chain-driven; weekly winding (up to 10 days); switchable night silencer from 10 pm to 7:15 am
- Chime
- Westminster every quarter hour
- Pendulum
- Brass lyre pendulum and weights by Jaeckle
- Other
- Interior light (110/220 V, 12 V); two carved turrets; finished on 3 sides, for a wall or to cover a pillar; clear blown glass above, blue-grey cathedral glass below; the upper part slides forward
How it is made
It is our signature model, the one that made us known around the world. We have believed in it since 1970: the challenge was to bring a clock the size of a piece of a city into a living room. It took thirty years of hard work and advertising to make our name, but those years of study paid off.
The case is solid American tulipwood, with the plain parts veneered in Tanganyika. It is made of more than a thousand small pieces, each worked on at least three sides, and at the top stand the two carved turrets at the corners of the castle. It is finished on three sides, to stand against a wall or to cover a pillar. Stefano Gobetti finishes the pieces one by one, in a deep medium walnut nitro with a catalysed semi-gloss top coat, all water-based.
Inside, a light shows off the woodwork. The upper glass is clear blown glass, the lower one blue-grey cathedral glass, both fixed with screws and strips. The chain-driven Kieninger movement plays the Westminster chime every quarter hour, just like the tower in London, and can stay silent 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 whole upper part slides forward.
