I expect that many members of this forum will already be well aware, but in case not, the new and revised second edition of Bob Miles's Synchronome: Masters of Electrical Timekeeping is now available (see here where there are full details of the book). From soon after the publication of the first edition, Bob was hoping that a new edition could be possible. There were no large errors in the first edition, but a few small things came to light, and the eagle-eyed among you spotted many of them. Unfortunately we lost Bob earlier this year, but when I last saw him he was delighted to know that plans were very well-advanced to produce this new edition. The original run was 500, and went out of print after nearly three years. The revised edition run is 300, of which 100 have already shipped. You will see that we have managed to find a different image of Hope-Jones for the cover. This was given to me by Arthur Mitchell a few years ago, and he assured me it had not been published. It therefore seemed fitting to use it for the dustjacket. The AHS has tried very hard to keep costs as low as possible, and the layout designer who produced the original edition very kindly gave all his time pro bono. The new edition is half the list price of the original edition, but it is still over 2kg in weight, and therefore postage costs are regrettably significant. This is, however, the definitive study of the marque. With best wishes, James Nye
Many thanks to those here who responded to the new publication by ordering a copy. We are a bit astonished by its reception, with more than 150 sold in the first two weeks! The print run was only 300! All the best James
I just received my copy of this wonderful book. I was informed of its existence by Bill Scolnik, a long-time aficionado of exotic electric timekeepers, and I hadn't been aware of the first edition. On its own merits, I'm extremely impressed. I had just acquired a rare 3/4-second Synchronome from Bill. Its gathering jewel is mounted on a spring instead of the usual pivoted arm. The spring was damaged (Let me be very clear: this was known when I purchased the clock) and neither Bill nor I were certain of its original configuration. We were quite sure it was a short-run variant, making it difficult to know how to repair but of great interest due to its rarity. On opening the book, it didn't take me long to find a photograph of this exact arrangement, and in enough detail to allow me to make the repair (Figure 4/9). The rigid finger that limits the downward travel of the spring passes mere thousandths of an inch behind the count wheel with every swing of the pendulum. Any disturbance of the pendulum's path could jam the finger directly into the rim of the wheel. This, plus the difficulty of fabricating and adjusting this arrangement, may be why it was soon abandoned. Now that I know how to make the repair, I may not do it. I may instead preserve these original parts and keep them with the clock in their damaged condition. I live in earthquake country where the aforementioned disturbance of the pendulum's path is likely. I believe I will instead bring this clock back to running condition by replacing its impulse pallet with a standard one (I may have to fabricate one) with traditional gathering jewel on a pivoted wire arm. This configuration has no potential to damage the count wheel. The original configuration, now that it is known, can be restored by a future conservator who may live where earthquakes are less likely than here. And to return to the original point of this reply, many thanks to all who made the book possible. I don't know how or when I would have formulated my repair strategy without it. SMH
I am delighted that the book has been so useful, and that you are impressed. It has been a very gratifying few weeks, with 170 books going out, quite a number to US collectors. All the very best, James
