A beautiful dial restoration, St James Church, Goffs Oak, Hertfordshire

May 20, 2015 Heritage, News

Smith of Derby clock-makers have completed a beautiful dial restoration and provided the client with the opportunity to save funds for other projects in the process.Martin Butchers, Technical Sales Engineer for the South, was asked by St James’ Church in Goffs Oak, Hertfordshire, to visit and inspect the clock, with a view to repairing the movement and restoring the clock to good working order.

On close inspection Martin saw that the clock dial had weathered badly and was in great need of restoration, and because there were other works taking place at the church which required scaffolding, he suggested that then was the best time to carry out the work to avoid having to pay for more scaffolding at a later date.Richard Cox, Smith of Derby clockmaker, worked from this scaffolding and restored the dial to its former glory, including painting and gilding in 23½ carat double thickness English gold leaf. He also withdrew the dial works and carried out a full overhaul, which can only be done when the clock hands are removed.   

Martin said:

Scaffolding is a very expensive item and to have it in place giving access to the dial is a very rare opportunity and not to be missed!

We suggested that whilst the scaffolding was in the place the dial should be restored to its former resplendence, to avoid the enormous future cost of re-erecting scaffold especially for this purpose. The scaffold erected for the stone works could be utilised for the dial restoration, thereby sharing the cost between the two jobs. This helped the client save funds for other projects.

He added:

The Parish and congregation were highly delighted with the works carried out by Smith of Derby and were very happy that in the long term, money had been saved by having the dial restoration carried out at the same time as the stone works.

If your clock is in need of clock repair or dial restoration, please contact us for a no obligation quotation or call 01332 345569.

About the author

webadmin: