The “Gravity Clock” from 1920

From time to time, my attention is drawn to advertisements that appear in publications I am reviewing in search of information on specific topics. Today, we have one such advertisement, which is the one shown in the following image, as it appeared in the June 1923 issue of National Geographic.

I love the concept. I had seen some of these watches in antique catalogs, but I hadn’t found any advertising for this particular model yet, or I had overlooked it because, when you’re looking for other things, the rest of what you come across tends to pass you by without catching your attention.

The fact is that Ansonia’s “Gravity Clock” sold very well in the 1920s. Ansonia was one of the best-known manufacturers of everyday clocks at the time, especially in North America. As I said, I love the idea. It is based on the gravity-winding system with a rack (Patents GB15238/1919 and US1368004/1921).

In clocks of that era, it was obviously common to wind them to keep them running. This could be achieved in various ways: with sets of weights and pendulums, mechanisms to wind a coil spring, or thanks to systems such as this “Gravity Clock,” which used a rack and pinion system with elevation…