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Cambridge University Gets Masterful Corpus ‘Chronophage’ Clock From Inventor John C. Taylor: Reminds Students To Graduate On Time, Or Else!

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:27:40 +0000

I love this stuff. It seems as though most all inventors at one point in their life just have to create some method of displaying the time. They can't call them 'clocks' either, that would be too...routine. Here we have a fascinating clock that was donated to Cambridge University in England by successful inventor John C. Taylor, who himself attended Cambridge in the 1950s. He refers to it as a "Chronophage" (something that 'eats' time), and named it the "Corpus Clock." This is likely do to the fact that it will be placed at the Corpus Christi College at Cambridge.

Taylor has had a privileged life no doubt aided by his inherent talent and skills. He gained his fortune improving of all things, thermostats. You can read more about him here. About seven years ago he began the development of this clock which he half paid for himself at a total cost of about one million English Pounds. Although this amount seems high, you have to take into consideration the budgets involved when Swiss watch makers create equally unique one-off pieces. Thus, the Corpus Clock was a bit of a bargain! Also, while Taylor is British, not Swiss, it is worth knowing that England has played an impressive role in the watch industry over the years. English watch makers are on the rise after years of relative dormancy. As such, Taylor who is himself an horologist, built the clock in honor of John Harrison, who was an English clock maker in the 18th century who solved the problem of longitude, and developed the "grasshopper" clock escapement (which was internal rather than external at the time). For the Corpus Clock, Taylor made the grasshopper escapement into an actually grasshopper, and placed it on the outside of the clock to visualize it eating away time.

The idea behind the Corpus Clock was two-fold. Represent time in an unorthodox manner, while stressing the fact that once time passes, it is literally eaten away never to return. The former concept is clearly demonstrated by the painstakingly detailed grotesque time eating grasshopper that sits atop the clock. The grasshopper is actually the escapement of the clock, which connects the power source to the mechanism that runs the watch. In this case, it directly operates the seconds elapsation of the clock, which in turn controls both the minutes and hours. Take a close look at the grasshopper a notice the moving eyes, mouth and even tongue. Parts of the head look to be sourced from records of paleolithic fish parts, which seems to share a look and monster like visage. Animated in its constant consumption of time, the grasshopper should be a signal to students taking too long to graduate. Or alternatively, perhaps a signal that once you get out of school, time moves so much faster, so enjoy the slow days of studying while you can. Either way it is a bit ominous.

If that wasn't enough, the Corpus Clock has another morbid trait. In defiance of the hourly bell chimes, that landmark clocks are often known for, the Corpus Clock emits the sound of a chain falling on a coffin, each hour. An interesting message to view and hear before entering the new library that the clock guards.

Display of the time is also eccentrically communicated, but in a visually appealing way. You don't have to investigate long to read the time. There are three circular indicators on the 24k gold plated clock face, with 60 faceted lens each. The inner circle is for hours, then minutes, while the outer circle represents the seconds. The outer circle is the most interesting to watch as the seconds make a complete revolution each second before advancing by one second. This is Taylor's way of pressing the whole "eating up of time" point. Instead of hands being used to tell the time. The Corpus Clock relies on vertical lens that display light from a centralized LED source. The mechanics of the clock allow for light to access the right lens at the right time so the indicators function like hands. Once you look at the clock in operation, it becomes quite obvious how to use it.

At about four feet in diameter, the clock is an impressive new landmark of Corpus Christi College, and Cambridge University as a whole. The combination of the impressive animations, striking features, and partially external mechanical components on the Corpus Clock easily make it one of the world's most interesting public clocks. John Taylor is obviously proud of the achievement, and so is Stephen Hawking who presented the clock at its unveiling recently. Professor Stephen Hawking of course, is a faculty member at Cambridge and adds a significant legitimacy to anything he presents, including the clock. If you are in Cambridge, I recommend checking this beast out.

A Briefer History of Time STEPHEN HAWKING 2005 HC DJ Fine

US $72.00

Theory of Everything STEPHEN HAWKING 2003 HC DJ Fine

US $72.00

Stephen Hawking 1 inch pinback badge button

US $1.99

Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays by Stephen Hawking Hardback

US $3.94

Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking New DVD

US $4.90

Theories of the Universe NEW by Stephen Hawking

US $21.51

Written by Mr. Ariel Adams - aBlogtoRead.com, trusted independent watch media.

Sylvester Stallone Oogles A Few New U-Boat Watches: Makes Panerai Jealous?

admin — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:53:53 +0000

Like many celebrities Sylvester Stallone is a big watch lover. Unlike others he is attributed with making a brand popular in Hollywood (Panerai), and working closely with watch companies. Accordingly, Panerai has even released models with the "Slytech" name in honor of Stallone for his love and participation with the company. Stallone love's Panerai so much, he even proudly wears them in some of his movies most recently Rambo 4. See what watch Stallone wore in Rambo here.

Not to be a one watch brand man, Stallone has a fondness for big watches. A recent company that has interested Stallone is U-Boat, an Italian designer producing well made watches with distinct retro-military-nautical themes. Some might consider these watches "over-size," others think they are just right. See the video below of Stallone testing a few new U-Boat watches (to what I am sure must be to Panerai's dissatisfaction with their smaller, large watches at 44-46mm).

I love Stallone's remarks about Arnold Schwarzenegger in the clip. "Arnold is up to 60, I get a 55 and Arnold has to get a 60." Of course he is talking about the diameter of the watch face. 55 is really big, and 60mm, is well bigger. Regardless of the fact that large watches are in, there are more reasons to get one beyond trend conformity. Large watches make a bigger statement, are easier to read, and provide much more room for interesting complications or design themes. In order to compensate for their size, U-Boat watches place their crowns and chronograph pushers on the left side so that they don't dig in to one's wrist and are less prone to snag or get damaged. This is becoming more and more popular with large or activity orientated watches.

Be it known that Stallone is not particularly tall. He is a well-built guy, but he and Schwarzenegger both wold not be considered particularly tall. I mention this to impress upon you that you don't need to be a massive person to pull off the large watch look.

U-Boat has been releasing some impressive watches as of late. I have been taking more notice of them, and like where they are going. The sizes range from as low to 45mm and up to 55mm (likely more soon). While you can get watches in steel and gold, they now offer large ceramic cases on the Flightdeck models. Both the gold and ceramic models shown are 55mm and Flightdeck models, but another model U-Boat offer that I like a lot is the "Thousands Of Feet." I'll likely cover that more at a later time.

Inside are all Swiss automatic movements. The configuration looks like a Valjoux 7750, but the size of the watches would suggest use of the new ETA Valgranges movement which offers the same features as the Valjoux 7750, but is larger. Speaking of chronographs, you'll notice the large screw cap on the crown connected via a little clasp to the bottom side of the watch. This is a bit of a vestigial element on the watch, but is meant to assist with water resistance. It used to be that one method of ensuring a water-tight case was to seal in the crown. Since then, other effective means have come out, like crowns that themselves screw in, or tighter gaskets that don't allow water in at high pressures. If you want to adjust the crown on this watch, you unscrew the cap, it dangles on the little hinge so that it does not get lost, and a smaller crown is revealed underneath.

U-Boat watches are pretty study, and have a nice feel for such watches. They are undoubtedly the highest quality watches to display this theme, though they are not the only watches that combine retro military looks and with submarine conventions.

Stallone may have found a worthy compliment to his vast Panerai collection. I love seeing his reactions to watches and what he may pick up next. I wonder what an entire line of Rambo watches would look like. That is one way into relative movie retirement mode for Mr. Stallone if he is still wants something fun to do.

See U-Boat watches on eBay here.

See U-Boat watches on Amazon here.

U BOAT

US $1,100.00

U BOAT

US $1,200.00

U Boat Thousands of Feet Blk PVD Blk Brn Dial $4800 NIB

US $2,700.00

U Boat Thousands of Feet SS Italo Fontana Black White Dial 50mm Case $4450 NIB

US $2,570.00

U Boat Thousands of Feet SS Yellow Accents HUGE 50mm Case Manual Wind $4450 NIB

US $2,570.00

U Boat Italo Fontana Chronograph SS 50mm Case $6950 NIB Contrast Stitching

US $3,500.00

Written by Mr. Ariel Adams - aBlogtoRead.com, trusted independent watch media.

Review of the Rolex Sea-Dweller From WatchReport.com

admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:13:09 +0000

Without a doubt, the Rolex Sea-Dweller is one of my favorite watches of all time. It represents everything I look for in a watch of this sort: simplicity, quality, functionality, and stark beauty. Continue reading → Related posts: