British United Clock Co Desk Clock "The Gnat" 1890s

Significance

A small brass desk clock "The GNAT" 30-hour 50 mm by BUCC, the British United Clock Company 1890s. BUCC traded from 1885 to 1909 in Birmingham and was as one of the first British manufacturers to use mass production technology; based on English founder's experience working in the USA at Ansonia clocks. BUCC was producing 500 clocks per day in the mid-1890s from a substantial factory; photo below.

BUCC is documented at length in a book produced for the British Museum: "Clockmaking in England and Wales in the Twentieth Century: The Industrialized Manufacture of Domestic Mechanical Clocks", John Glanville and William M. Wolmuth 2015, available on Scribd.

Description

A small compact desk clock all in brass. A balance wheel with a lever escapement. Porcelain dial. The clock was mass produced and advertised to the trade. There is a tiny trademark on the dial, just above the 6.

The clock was not running when received and was quite dirty inside, including dried-on brass polish. I partially disassembled the clock, used an ultrasonic cleaner, rinsed in alcohol to displace water, and oiled it. It sprang to life after the ultrasonic cleaning.


I read about BUCC in Glanville and Wolmuth, then went to eBay UK

The Gnat is a remarkably small clock at 50mm with no space inside. The trademark is at 6, under the hour hand. Quite hard to see.






Compact movement with a lever escapement. It is hard to get the dried on brass polish off.

The advertisement for the "Gnat" clock.


The substantial BUCC factory in 1888 with production around 500 a day.




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