This clock was made as a special exhibition or presentation piece. Exhibition pieces were made to highlight the creators' horological skills and/or demonstrate a new innovation. Its' exact history is currently unknown and is being actively researched. This clock was said to be on display in Dent's main office's area for many years and is probably the only one of it's kind made by Dent.  Anyone with information that may shed light on this subject is encouraged to contact me.

One line of thought is that this was made by Dent as his submission to the British government for the escapement and remontoire design for the great clock at Westminster; commonly known as Big Ben. The remontoire is based on the design of the French tower clock maker Jean Wagner. Dent did go on to build Big Ben. The original design of the clock called for deadbeat escapement and remontoire. The clock was built and tested in Dent's factory for a number of years since the Westminster tower was not yet completed when the clock was finished. During that time one of Dent's associates, Edward Beckett Dennison (later Lord Grimthorp) developed the double three legged gravity escapement.  This was incorporated into Big Ben. The escapement was so successful that the remontoire was judged to be unnecessary and was removed. (See an example of this escapement see William  Potts, in the tower clock section). For more information on the purpose and function of remontoire see Wagner, Paris, in the tower clock section.

More likely the clock was made a few years later, quite likely for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. The escapement is a variant of gravity escapement developed by Dr. James Clark. It is a six legged, single impulse arm style. Unlike most other gravity escapements it has a slotted cylinder acting as the detent and has only one gravity impulse arm. An example of this escapement is  discussed in the Summer 1979 issue of the Antiquarian Horology, pp. 394-400. It is also illustrated on page 546 and discussed on page 536 in Edward John Dent, Vaudry Mercer. The illustration shows two impulse arms vs. the single arm used on this clock, but the remainder of the illustration is a near perfect match, right down to the anti-friction wheels for the crutch pin. The clock discussed in the book, however, is described as an "observatory clock or regulator of unusual design" with a "compensated mercurial pendulum". One could imagine the pendulum bob being switched, but it's hard to imagine this clock being called an observatory clock. It is a tower clock in every respect of it's design, right down to the presence of a lead off arbor to drive external dials. Also the subtle difference between this and the escapement described in Mercers' book along with no mention of the very prominent remontoire, makes me think that this clock is not that described. There no signs of alteration in the escapement so the entire assembly would have to had been replaced wholesale. It is an open question as to whether this design predates or is after the two impulse arm design.

The movement also includes a form of gravity remontoire with a 15 second period. A very similar 30 second design is used in the tower clock made by Wagner, Paris in the tower clock section. Few clocks were made with both a gravity escapement and remontoire combined as they were thought to be redundant. Click the following for video clips depicting the remontoire: 1,  2,  3,   4,  5,  6,   7,  8.

This is technically a tower clock by design, but may reasonably be interpreted as a large skeleton clock. Thus it is also included in this site under the skeleton clock section. All parts of this movement are highly finished and have been made to the best horological standards available at the time. The design is geared toward a maximum level of visual action through the mechanical movement of the remontoire and gravity escapement. Its' large scale wheel train better shows the mechanical interactions that otherwise would be diminished on a smaller scale movement.

Provenance:  Sotheby's, New York, June 19, 2002; Lot #196. Formerly from The Time Museum, Rockford, IL, Inventory No. 3240. Formerly from the collection of R.S Stevens, Lake Forest, IL. Referenced in The Country Life International Dictionary of Clocks, pp. 253.