20th Century Satin Black Clock from Magneta for GPO, England, 1950s

Details

Description

An original Magneta clock, once a clock in a post office, telephone exchange, or factory setting, finished in satin black … Read more An original Magneta clock, once a clock in a post office, telephone exchange, or factory setting, finished in satin black with a silver-grey dial and converted to a modern quartz movement.

Magneta was one of only four manufacturers approved to build clocks to the British General Post Office's specification, alongside Gent & Co. of Leicester, Synchronome of Alperton, and Gillett & Johnson, all sharing the same Hipp Toggle impulse system to keep every clock on a circuit in perfect agreement. The company traces to 1917 and Joseph Molden's takeover of the original Magneta business, later expanded through the acquisition of the Silent Electric Clock Company. In 1939 Magneta was bought by the British Vacuum Cleaning and Engineering Company, better known for its Goblin-brand vacuum cleaners, and continued operating from the Goblin Works in Leatherhead, Surrey.

Like every clock in a Magneta network, this one never kept its own time, relying on a pulse from a master clock elsewhere in the building. Because that network no longer exists, it has been converted to a self-contained quartz movement, with the original hands adapted to fit.

The clock measures 25 cm in diameter and 7 cm in height.

Suited to collectors of British industrial and horological history and interior designers seeking a self-contained, ready-to-hang statement clock. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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