Fasoldt 10

Charles Fasoldt, Albany, New York, USA, 1874. This clock was a model made by Fasoldt in 1874 to demonstrate his detached gravity escapement and remontoire dial actuator used in the tower clocks his firm produced. The model as well as a full sized tower clock that mirrored the model was exhibited in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and was awarded a gold medal. The escapement was used in his other domestic clocks that had the pendulum above the movement and the dial remontoire in the ten tower clocks he built. Of the four I know of one was installed in the Pennsylvania Reading Railroad, Albany Bank, and two still in their original installations at the University of Northern Iowa (since moved in 2020 from the base of the Campanile tower to the University president's office - it's good to be president) and the Union Church (now the Ebenezer Baptist Church) in Newburg, New York.

Fasoldt is considered one of the finest and innovative American clock and watch makers. He had a fairly limited production of about 350 watches, 20 domestic regulators, 10 tower clocks and this model, making his work quite collectible. The model described here being unique.

His regulator and shelf clocks are highly prized and of the finest quality and his extremely rare tower clocks of which only 4 are known in addition to this model are of great importance to historians and collectors. The one at Newburgh, New York, being the only remaining example in its original installation and still running, and was restored in 1996-98 by members of the NAWCC. One he made for the 1876 centennial remains on display at the Northern Iowa State University but is no longer functioning. His clock movements are even more beautiful than his watch movements. Charles Fasoldt was born in 1818 and was a native of Dresden, Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1848, and from 1849 to 1861 he lived in Rome, N.Y. He moved to Albany in 1861 and lived there for the rest of his life, dying in 1898 and passed away at 9:00 PM on May 13, 1898.

The clock as found needed a complete overhaul. It was in a box with other parts scattered in other containers in the basement of a deceased clock collector. A clock dealer was called in to sort out the collection and he had nearly overlooked the boxes that were filled with mostly uninteresting parts. But upon spotting the main portion, he instantly recognized the name on the dial, Charles Fasoldt and knew there was something very special. Fortunately nearly 100% of the original parts were collected up.

After some research he realized he had found the model Fasoldt had built for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. It had been assumed lost long ago. Of course being a smart dealer he knew what the major collectors were interested in and there was an east coast collector who specialized in Fasoldt clocks. Needless to say, after serious negotiations a deal was struck.

The following are photos and illustrations of some of the restoration work. Richard Ketchen did the restoration.

Fasoldt's unique, 'twirling' dial drive remontoire. I had taken inspiration from this design to apply to the strike fly governors in my Astronomical skeleton clock. In my design we added an epicyclical gear to make the detent whip revolve in the opposite direction as the whirling cage so as to make the stopping pressure lighter on the jeweled detent. See video: https://youtu.be/6UJCkMCD3aM. When one views Fasoldt's remontoire one cannot help but be convinced that he did this for visual impact. there were so many ways he could have accomplished the same function in a much simpler and more economical fashion. But he did this because he could and because it correlated with his reputation as being the best in his craft.