It is an interesting article.
Doug was an evidenced based researcher and would provide documentation, as he did in the article. If he were forced to use deductive reasoning or educated assumptions (i.e., without evidence), he would clearly state so, and this article is an example of his skills.
Doug found evidence in an 1883 Lenzkirch catalog that Lenzkirch were offering wall regulators with either a sweep seconds hand or subsidiary dials, where the seconds hands took 60 seconds to complete its revolution. (Loose translation from the catalog - "correct" seconds hand.) Lenzkirch also offered wall clocks without the seconds hand. However, if you wanted a clock with seconds hands (my assumption - you do not want to pay the price for the "correct" hands), which Lenzkirch referred to as "little seconds", you can special order these clocks with the little seconds and pay the same price as the wall clock without seconds hands. Of course, these "little seconds" will take only 45 seconds for a complete revolution. And, even more interesting, as Doug stated, these "little seconds" clocks would entail an arbor extension, a seconds hand, a different dial, and the special ordering.
Doug threw out some possibilities off the top of his head as to why Lenzkirch may have done this. His one possibility is an interesting one - perhaps Lenzkirch didn’t charge extra for a clock with “little seconds” because they needed to compete with lesser firms. So, (my interpretation) rather than being a production cost issue, the offering of the "45 seconds / little seconds clock" was a market share issue.
To paraphrase what Bruce said, the market demanded a seconds hand with out paying for a "true" regulator.
All speculation, but an educated guess.
Regards.
