Re: Cockpit Clock?

[chesterpiglet]

Good evening everyone.
I bought this years ago & have wondered if it had an Aviation connection. It is unmarked except for R&A on the rear which could be retard & advance or retard or avance in French(it was bought here). The reason I suddenly ask is given RFC Pilots were encouraged to remove their clocks whatever the circumstances this appears to have a clip on the winder shaft & just one mounting hole at 12 o'clock. So with a knurled fixing knob & located on the lower clip it would be easy to remove rapidly. The body is an alloy I think and it was made to be recessed slightly in a dashboard.
Does any body have any ideas? The single fixing hole & the clip suggest it was made to be removed easily for whatever reason.
Many thanks as always
Cordialement Rob

[Jim]

Bonjour mon ami.

Unfortunately your clock is not aviation related. It is either a timepiece that was mounted in something and used as a desk clock, or perhaps it could have been an aftermarket item for people to mount in an automobile.

Unlike the British, the French normally used permanently mounted clocks in their aircraft.
Here are some examples of French aircraft clocks from my collection followed by a photo of the French military's blueprints for aircraft clocks during the Great War. The third photo is of a French Great War aviation pocket watch but these were generally not used in airplanes and instead were carried by observers in observation balloons since the balloons did not have much in the way of a cockpit in which to mount the standard French aircraft clock. These were mounted in leather carrying cases.

cordialement,
Jim

[chesterpiglet]

Hello Jim
Many thanks for your reply-much appreciated. I had seen your wonderful collection of French clocks when I searched the site.
Thanks again
Bien cordialement
Rob

[Jim]

My pleasure. In the photo of the five clocks, there are four different models but as you can see they are all built more or less to the same standard design. Here are some more photos of them from some different angles so you can see how they are alike but also different.

The first one is in a spring mounted case to provide extra shock proofing from the stong vibrations in an aircraft of that era. This is the same model as the one that is in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's 1917 Voisin VIII night bomber.

The movements inside these are similar to pocket watch movements as you can see in the last photo.

[ONEALM]

Nice collection Jim !

If you could part with one that would actually fly again, the GAAM SPAD could use a clock ...

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=55055

Cheers -
Mike

[Jim]

Hi Mike. I just sent you two PMs - one with a message and one with some photos. Jim