Hi, my name is Chris, I`m a model engineer and have currently been building Dr Woodwards Gearless Clock which is getting near to complete.
Ive always had an interest and desire to have a sponsors stamp and register with the assay office here in the UK. I believe the stamp can be purchased for about £70 but you have that for life and to register for 10 years(!) is very reasonable. I totally understand that this is not necessary and would work out very expensive for both the silver and the process of hall marking but Im curious if anyone has gone through the process and any advice or info you could give me.
Im considering trying to introduce the use of a silver part somewhere in the clock just to fulfill this idea but I cant even imagine yet what I would make. Ive considered the hands which are at the top of my likely list at present. A bezel around the rim face would be nice but I think too big and too awkward to make. Im sure I can come up with something!
This could all be a pipe dream but I`d like to hear anyones input.
Chris
Hi Chris
Thanks for joining us. You are engaged on what sounds like a very interesting project and I’m sure many of us would be very interested to hear how you get on. I note that the current cost of a registration at the London Assay Office is £72 for 10 years; I assume that the renewal costs will be similar. I also see that the cost of a punch is at least £77.50. It might be worth comparing prices at the Birmingham and Sheffield Assay Offices although I suspect that there will not be too much difference.
Thank you for your reply. If you are interested, details of my progress on the clock can be found on my website… www.raynerd.co.uk I just do it as a hobby and keep the site as a diary of what I`ve done. From the homepage click “latest” at the top menu to see the recent updates or click below for a video of the initial run.
raynerd.co.uk/?page_id=1355
Eventually it will look like this - just to clarify, the picture on the following page is NOT my personal clock:
iantcobb.co.uk/gearless%20clock.html
Looking at the completed clock in the picture above, can anyone think of any nice place where I could add a silver hallmarked piece? I thought maybe the hands or perhaps a piece inserted as an inlay in the pendulum bob?
Is the process as simple as it seems? You just take a scraping of the silver you have used, take that along with the piece to the assay office and they will test and hallmark your piece providing you have paid the registration fee and have a stamp made - or are there additional high costs to actually get each piece marked and tested?
Chris
I think that the process is that the Assay Office take the sample from your submitted item - otherwise they can’t be sure your submission and your sample are the same. From what I read I believe there is a one-off charge per item too. Here is a price list from the Sheffield Assay Office site.
Sorry, I don’t have any suggestions about where you can put your hallmarked silver - the clock structure looks quite minimal!