Beschreibung:

A rare one-minute torpedo timer Attributed to Charles Frodsham, London for Robert North and Sons, Bushey, circa 1944 The circular brass spring-driven movement with platform lever escapement regulated by sprung two-arm monometallic balance controlled by electromagnetically operated start/stop lever, the 11 inch adjustable circular white-on-black dial divided into tenths of a second with every second numbered 1-10 between ten second annotations, with white painted sweep hand and fixed central disc signed ROB.T NORTH & SONS, 18 RUDOLF RD., BUSHEY. HERTS over number W-2575, within heavy black japanned cast brass bezel (glass lacking) set onto a square plate with slots to hold the bespoke winding and dial adjustment keys to upper quadrants and electrical contents for a battery start/stop switch to lower left, the square hardwood box with apertures for the winding and dial adjustment dials to front and right hand side, brass recessed side handles, applied with an engraved melamine OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS… label to inside of lid, and brass plate numbered W. 2575 to front, the box 42.5cm (16.75ins) wide. The current lot belongs to a group of half a dozen examples known all signed for Charles Frodsham London. Three of these are in the Frodsham Museum, London, whilst a fourth, (number 2551) is known to have been used by the Royal Australian Navy. Including the current lot the serial numbers range from 2551-2575 suggesting at least twenty-five examples were made. The provision of a battery powered switch for the relay would allow accurate operation however the large, heavy and expensive design would render the current lot impractical in most applications where a good accurate purpose made stop-watch would suffice. Why the currrent lot is signed for a firm of general manufacturers of machinery is unknown; perhaps it is appropriate to speculate that they were sub-contracted by Frodsham to build the heavily engineered casing and box.