Horological Engineering

ABOUT

Our Horologists (ancient clock carers) have the tools and knowledge to repair turret clocks. Bryan Crosby and Malcolom Stevens maintain the oldest continually operating clock in South Australia.

The Vuilliamy clock in the tower at Holy Trinity Church on North Terrace was made in 1836 by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy which makes it older than its younger sister clock found in the Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks which is reportedly the oldest continously running clock in Australia

Holy Trinity church’s first building was started in 1838 and the Clock was given to the church by Colonel William Light (Surveryour General) as he expected Morphett street to be the crossing point over the river Rorrens and to be the centre of the new city. A water colour from 1845, shows the clock in the building after its first restoration.

In April 2021, the clock was noted to be gaining time irregularly and the chime was unreliable. A close inspection was made and thorough cleaning of both mechanisms. The root cause of the problems was discovered and repaired. A modern “tic-toc” timer was developed to guide optimisation and calibration of the ancient time piece. Time was not urgent, and much research and learning lead the Horology team to repair the mechanism while maintaining its basic mechanical operation . it is now operating as originally intended by its creator. By Christmas 2021, the clock was keeping time and chiming…

Our experience includes repairing grandfather clocks and we offer our service in “time honoured” tradition to those who need to resuscitate their ailing but invaluable timepieces.

clocks Saved

BL Vulliamy Turret Clock :
Holy Trinity Church,
North Terrace Adelaide

Grandfather Clocks

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Our experience includes repairing grandfather clocks and we offer our service in “time honoured” tradition to those who need to resuscitate their ailing but invaluable heritage clocks

Author:

Bryan Crosby (PhD)