Unusual 'Rocking' Game Clock

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Syngergy

I'm looking for what is apparently a very unusual chess clock that I just know I saw once--can't remember where. It was a beautiful wood and brass analog game clock, like you might see on an executive's desk; the unique thing about it is that the timer's overall shape from the front on was rhomboidal (with two faces, obviously), allowing the whole timer to rock back and forth on a fulcrum. In addition, the push-buttons were located on the bottom, so that rocking the clock signaled the end of the player's turn--similar in concept to the original 1883 Fattorini & Sons of Bradford tumbling pendulum clock (below) but with a much more modern (analog) aesthetic.

I have tried every Google search I could think of--"rocking chess clock", "balancing chess clock", or "tipping" or "pendulum" or "tumbling" or "tipping" or "tilting" or "fulcrum chess clock"; I've even tried "game clock" or "game timer" to no avail. All I ever come up with is the 1883 antique.

Has anyone out there ever seen or heard of such a thing? Tell me I'm not crazy! Any leads as to where to find and purchase would be nice, or even just a picture.

RomyGer

RomyGer

Is this the one you meant ?  It is page 82 of The Oxford Companion to Chess, when you want to read the full text, I can scan that for you, give me a hint.

RomyGer

I could not see the picture you apparently copied with your text, that did not work on my computer.

RomyGer

Syngergy

Thanks, RomyGer, but the clock you found is the exact one that kept popping up in my searches. The clock I am trying to find is of much more modern design and origin, with single-piece construction that rocks as a freestanding unit. I could be making up some details, like wood as a construction material, but not the freestanding rocking motion starting and stopping the clocks.

Kwaja-Ali

OK, then, Syngergy... Page 52 of the 1981 Dover book A Picture History of Chess by Fred Wilson features this 1893 photo (much cropped by me) of Harry Pillsbury and an unknown opponent...

phpMP1ssu.jpeg

Does Harry's clock possess a more "modern" (analog) aesthetic? I myself am looking for an incredibly elaborate version of the clock pictured in your original post in this thread. I once saw a photo of it but cannot remember what book, magazine, or website featured it. It had an exquisitely carven (metal cast, that is) squirrel with a branchy, leafy motif in the housing that surrounded the two clock faces. May, in fact, have been a couple squirrels. And the pendulums were finely detailed acorns (any pendulum is called "acorn" if even its overall shape resembles an acorn). Squirrels and acorns; makes sense, yes? But I can find it nowhere. Still, if you are actually seeking to possess the clock you describe, I would suggest that it is doubtless a thing of considerable value, since it is definitely antique, and further because it will have allure for both collectors of vintage chess equipment as well as vintage clockworks. Do you have a spare arm and leg?

Obfg

here is a link to a movie Sherlock Holmes with such a clock at time mark 1.03 minutes

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=chess+scene+in+robert+downey+Jr.+sherlock+holmes+movie&&view=detail&mid=EE718B3BBE66B6E39E2CEE718B3BBE66B6E39E2C&&FORM=VRDGAR

Obfg

Image result for vintage chess clock

Obfg

See the source image

Obfg

https://www.lukehoney.co.uk/products/fattorini-chess-timing-clock-1890-s-1904#.W6Zn4_ZFz2c

greghunt

why does no one make reproductions of these?  The Tanner clocks cost as much or more than many Jaques sets, the Fattorini is probably similarly expensive. Does everyone play blitz?

Venz412

I tried though but I saw that clock in the Movie: Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows.

Check this link with chess analysis: Sherlock vs Moriarty