The Clepsydra ( clep-si-druh ) Water Clock Made in Birmingham, England dated 1551 The Clock Dial There is a carving that shows a large bird, clouds, mountains, and the sun. It is hard to see all of the detail because of the aged patina. At high noon the clockmaker would fill the water canister until the clock hand would point to the 12 o'clock position. The Clock Canister The embossing is almost 1/4 inch deep in some spots. It looks like something you might see on an old wine goblet or centurion's armor from the 1400s and 1500s. The water valve would then be opened to allow the water to drip out. As the water would drip out, the float in the water canister would drop, causing the chain that ishooked to the float to move the clock hand. The following day at high noon, the clock hand should once atgain point to the 12 o'clock position. If the clock did not point to the correct time each day, the clockmaker would adjust the drip rate until the clock would indicate the correct time. The Base & Reservoir The water drips into the reservoir and the reservoir and the reservoir would slide forward so the water could be dumped back into the canister. The reservoir is rich with elaborate tooling and carvings.

Reproduction Clepsydras From the Pearson, Page & Jewsbury Catalog Made in 1918 and dated 1665 to 1750 Table Clock dated 1665 Table Clock dated 1742 Wall Clock dated 1678 In 1918 Pearson, Page & Jewsbury made ornamental brass products at their Illeene Works plant on Sherlock Street in Birmingham, England. Some of the items they made were water clocks in antiquated style. The reproduction water clocks bear fictitious names and dates from about 1650 to 1678. The clocks were made of ornamental brass and the parts were of simple construction, lacking the ornate embossing on the water canisters, or the detailed carvings on the base. The actual water clocks that were built from about 1550 until around 1595 were elaborate works of art. Toward the middle of the 16th century, building a water clock was a major production so they were embellished with deep hand embossing and elaborate carving. It was not practical to add this art work to the reproduction water clocks as they were disigned to be only ornamental display pieces. They were kept simple to keep the cost down and to feature the shining brass. None of the clocks Pearson, Page produced would function as a timekeeper, and there are no known genuine water clocks of English make dated in the 1600s.

Reproduction Clepsydra Made in England in 1975 The dial is heavy cast with a lot of design. This is a reproduction of an English clock on display in a British Museum. The original was made sometime in the late 16th century.

The Conger Street Clock Tower