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This is our second tilt-pendulum clock; we had another that was very similar; we sold that one. In 1883, a man named Thomas Bright Wilson made the first chess clock in Manchester, England. His design involved placing two clocks on a triangular platform. This allowed the clocks to "tilt" which would then cause the pendulum to drop out of dead-center and thus stop the clock. When a player moved and pressed his clock, it would tilt, his clock would go out of center and his clock would stop. The other clock would start. In photograph #1 the player on left is on move; in photograph #3, the right player is on move. I know that this clock is not made by Thomas Bright Wilson, as his clock contained a move counter and this one does not. Nor is it a Fattorini and sons clock. Regrettably I have not be able to trace the manufacturer, but I know it was made in Germany for export to an English-speaking country; most likely the movements are by Junghans, a German manufacturer of chess clocks. This clock must be pre-1900 or so, as the plunger-style clock superseded the tilt-pendulum clock in the 1890's.

I admit I do not know the function of the rings. I think these movements were originally made for use aboard ships to calculate longitude; the clocks were meant to hang from overhead hooks and swing with the motion of the ship on the rings. The clocks were then repurposed as this chess clock.

The sister to this clock was purchased by a Norwegian gentleman who got Magnus Carlsen, the world champion, to pose with it. (No, Mr. Carlsen did not buy it, nor does he endorse the clock or allansbooks.)

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Her sister was online also! We sold her!

I, Ed Yetman, have not be able to find any clock like this one sold anywhere. I can verify by my own testimony that this clock was in Allan Troy's collection as of 1983, as I saw it then for the first time. Follow us! This is only one of several old collectible clocks that we will be selling in the coming weeks. We combine shipping! To combine, place all your purchases in the shopping cart and press "proceed to checkout." These volumes come from the private library of Allan Troy, late owner of Troy's Chess Shoppe, Torrance, California. Follow us! We have an ongoing sale of 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st century chess books, sets and clocks!