Universal Geneve desk clock from the 1950s in a massive 17cm brass case. I find this clock interesting for so many reasons so please forgive this long post.
Firstly, the clock has a jump-second hand. The mainspring is manually wound via a key on the back of the case. Two trains come off that mainspring. The first is geared into the escape wheel which, in turn, is connected to the balance wheel and controls the actual timekeeping as one would expect. The second train is likewise driven by the mainspring but runs back to the dial and ingeniously dead-beats the second hand. The oversized scale of the hand itself, complete with a flamboyant tail, seem to have been designed to draw attention to this very unusual feature.
Furthermore, the dead-beat seconds hand can be hacked via a discreet button located at 12 o’clock on the outside of the case. Depressing it completely freezes the seconds. The clock seems to have been intended to be very precise indeed. One can easily imagine it being displayed in a public place and set to the exact correct second each morning, with others using it throughout the day to accurately set their own time pieces as they passed by.
In addition, it is worth noting that the quality of the movement, and the finishing especially, are utterly spectacular. The striping and spotting are extraordinary to see in what was largely an encased movement. There is a tiny glass viewing window under the clock to allow some visual access but here is the movement in all its glory.
Finally, the dial design is pure Universal. I love the open ‘6’ and ‘9’ hour markers, very reminiscent of the charming date wheel fonts found on watches of this era, perhaps most famously the Polerouters. The same can be also said for the mirror-polished dauphine hour and minute hands and the applied ‘U’ logo, both of which are also found in many famous UG watches from the 50s. Every single aspect of this clock seems to have been so carefully considered, and, for me, it perfectly encapsulates everything that was glorious about UG in the golden years.
