A Controversial Restoration

Renato and Franco Zamberlan discuss recent work on St Mark's Clock in Venice.
ON 18TH OCTOBER 1996, the Director of Venetian
Museums, Giandomenico Romanelli, and the General
Manager of Piaget International, Francis Gouten, signed
an agreement for the restoration of the St. Mark's Clock in
Venice. The Clock was indeed running, but needed a
general overhaul. The project was to be sponsored by
PIAGET , which, according to newspaper accounts
contributed around £150,000 for the restoration.
Romanelli chose a historian, Giuseppe Brusa, to
accomplish the task. Brusa selected Alberto Gorla, a
blacksmith specialising in tower clocks, to carry out the
work. Oddly enough, the Venetian authorities gave no
other clockmakers or historians an opportunity to tender.
This is the first time this has happened in the 500 year

1. Above: The movement prior to the recent restoration,

as it appears from a drawing made by Piaget. 1, the
subsidiary dial arbor, connected with the time train on
the opposite side of the movement; 2, the 132-blow
strike train; 3, the 5 minutes mechanism, added in 1858,
to move the panelled wheels for digital time indication; 4,
The time train; 5, The second Moor train (the first Moor
train is not visible, opposite to this); 6, The link from the
escapement to the long wooden pendulum rod; 7, The
octagonal wooden pendulum rod, 13,6 ft long; 8, The
transmission arbor for main dial indications; 9,
Astronomical mechanism for the main dial.
2. Left: The clock after the recent restoration.

history of the Clock. Mr. Romanelli said that Giuseppe

Brusa was suggested by the British Museum, but Brusa
has recently denied this. The reason for the choice is still
not clear.
A Restoration Committee was formed. During an
official press briefing held in Palazzo Ducale on 24th
January 1997, Mr Mossetto, who is responsible for
cultural activities of the Venetian Municipality, said that
the committee included Giuseppe Brusa as the director,
Alberto Peratoner (the last temperatore*) and Alberto
Gorla; chosen by the Venetian Municipality, and Gabriel
Piaget and Francis Gouten; chosen by PIAGET.
Although Peratoner, who has the most direct long-
term knowledge of the clock, was nominally involved in
the Committee, he was effectively left out of this group.
Most recently he was not included in the Restoration
Committee as described in official press announcements
by PIAGET and the Venetian Municipality. These listed
the committee as Giuseppe Brusa, Alberto Gorla,
Gabriel Piaget, Yves Piaget, Giandomenico Romanelli
* Custodian of the clock
(Director of Venetian Museums) and Daniela can remember that it was stopped for the Relazione storico-critica delta Torre
Andreozzi (Venetian Museum Architect). curfew. dell'Orologio di S. Marco in Venezia by
The Venetian authorities and PIAGET have The main parts of the clock are visible on Nicolo Erizzo. It is clearly stated that the
never explained the reason for the exclusion the drawing, 1. Not visible here is the Magi's pendulum made 1828bph. Brusa believes
of Alberto Peratoner. carousel mechanism on the upper floor of the that this a typographical error and that it
It is clearly documented that the Tower. means 2828bph. He says that it is not logical
restoration was to be conservative. As is The link between the Magi's mechanism that when De Lucia altered the escapement
common practice in modern restoration and the main movement was usually in 1858 he would have altered the pendulum
work, no additions or modifications to the disengaged. The hourly procession used to rod by only a few inches (1828bph to
movement were permitted other than the happen only during the two weeks 1800bph). The work required to modify the
provision of an automatic winding surrounding Ascension Day and, recently, train would not have been justified by such a
mechanism. In a 1988 interview, published also on 6th January. At these times the slight modification. He concludes that it must
by the Italian magazine Orologi, Romanelli temperatore engaged the mechanism early in have been changed to accommodate a much
described the temperatore as a "difficult to the morning and disengaged it around sunset. longer rod. The logic of this is not clear
replace cultural and human heritage", but the In our view two points are clear: especially because the new pendulum by
introduction of automatic winding would 1) the clock must be considered as an Brusa and Gorla actually makes 2600bph, and
eliminate the role. 'antique' in all of its parts, the youngest of not 2828 as we could expect if the
Recently, Brusa suggested that Alberto them date back to 1858; typographical error was true. Where does the
Peratoner has started a campaign against the 2) it ran for 140 years from the last 2600 value come from?
restoration work because of the loss of his considerable interventions, so they must The escapement was changed from
personal involvement with the clock (the have been made in a quite correct manner. deadbeat to pinwheel, the escape wheel had to
temperatore lived and worked inside the be remadso any desired rod could have been
Clock Tower, earning a wage for this). The Restoration accommodated. It seems more likely, as the
Brusa decided that the 1858 interventions literature clearly indicates, that the clock
The Clock made by Luigi De Lucia were detrimental to already had a long pendulum which was
As we wrote in our previous article (January, the wonderful 1757 mechanism made by simply modified to a more convenient beat.
p. 11), the current mechanism dates back to Bartolomeo Ferracina. He determined that There is another historical source to con-
1757-1759. It was heavily modified in 1858- the original 1757 situation had to be restored, firm how wrong this choice has been. As
1860, mainly with the addition of a digital even if this meant the replacement of some described in our previous article, the 1858, 2-
time indication system. The Graham 1858 parts with newly made ones. In his second pendulum extended through a hole in
deadbeat escapement was replaced with a opinion the clock was in such bad condition the floor of the clock room; the 6.2ft. pendu-
pinwheel and the pendulum was lengthened that it couldn't run any more without lum that Brusa says was fitted in 1757, being
from a 1828bph to a 1800bph, a neat 2 carrying out these substitutions; only the much shorter, would not. Such, a hole should
seconds. 1757 movement features could guarantee work in 1857. Sebastiano Cadel has
From that time to present, the clock was reliable operations. written, for the Venetian Municipality, a
simply overhauled. Only minor repairs were As we'll see further on in this article, this detailed account of the work done on the
carried out. All of its features worked, except is difficult to sustain. Almost all the changes building at that time. There is absolutely no
for the 132-blow strike, which was made don't improve the performance of the mention in this document of the need to
deactivated during World War I for the clock. Nobody expects an antique clock to make a hole in the floor. This suggests that
curfew. Brusa has suggested that it stopped run like a quartz, but everybody wants it in a the hole in the floor existed since Ferracina's
working due to the 1858 restoration, but nearly untouched state. Instead of trying to time and is another confirmation that
elderly Venetians, alive during WWI, return to an imperfectly known 1757 state, Ferracina's pendulum must have been about
the 1858 modifications should have been 13ft long.
preserved. The 1858 mechanism had given
140 years of uninterrupted operation.

The Changes Made

Here is how Brusa and Gorla carried out the
restoration, 2. They cleaned and polished all
the parts, installed new bushings, burnished
pivots, replaced fly-springs, etc... but many
other interventions were also made.

Pendulum Length
They replaced the 2-second pendulum (1800
bph) made in 1858 (13.05ft. long, with an
octagonal wooden rod and a polished
lenticular brass bob engraved; "Luigi De
Lucia", 3, with a new one, 2600 bph (6.2ft.
long iron rod; cast iron bob punched:
"Alberto Gorla 1998", 4). We think this is
wrong not only from the conservation point
of view, but also from the historical point of
view.
The reader will be asking how Brusa could
know the exact beat rate of the 1757
pendulum.
Well, there is a book describing
the clock as it was in the 18th Century: 4. The new bob. Not very elegant, in our
3. The 1858 bob, signed by Luigi De Lucia, opinion.
mirrors the scene in the room below the clock.
5. In this photo the secondary dial arbor is not present, but it will be fixed to the three metric 6. The sketch by A. Marini and G. Doria
pitch steel screws seen on the black finish wheel hub. Note the roughly plugged holes. showing the horizontal link to the pendulum
predating the 1858 movement.
Pendulum Position store. The main frame of the movement is made of beautifully forged
Brusa and Gorla moved the pendulum suspension point from the time iron. Brusa and Gorla repeatedly affirmed that: "The methods and
train side of the movement to the 132-blow strike train side. That is to materials used for restoration are the same stated by the most antique
say to the opposite side of the structure. This required an elongated tradition in iron tower clocks".
arbor to bring the motion from the anchor to the crutch, now very far
from the escapement. Suspension Spring
The reason the restorers gave for making this change is the presence The new suspension is of the leaf-spring type, while the 1858 one was
of four aligned holes on the clock frame where the arbor may pass a knife edge. Brusa and Gorla make no reference to the reason why
through. Brusa and Gorla say that their presence is enough to show they changed it and there is no source, to our knowledge, where it can
that in 1757 the pendulum was mounted on the opposite side of the be found that the 1757 suspension was spring-type, even if the
time train. This may be so, but every clockmaker finds unused holes principle of conservative restoration is disregarded.
in antique clocks and without further supporting evidence it is not
enough to start making new parts to fit them. Suspension Attachme nt
To accommodate the new long arbor required lifting the 5-minute The new point where the suspension is attached is exactly in the
mechanism, (3, on drawing, 1). A steel structure was made for this middle of the clock. Prior to the recent restoration it was placed to one
purpose and we must say that it doesn't follow any antique style at all. side. The rod was connected to the escapement by a horizontal link (6,
It makes use of modern square tubing anyone can find at a local metal in drawing 1) as is common on Comtoise clocks. This avoids
interference with the transmission arbor (8, in drawing 1), which
carries the motion to the dial and protrudes from the middle of the
movement.
Gorla placed the new pendulum on the other side of the mechanism
but here too the secondary dial arbor protrudes from the middle. He
solved this problem by fabricating a sort of 'open-frame' rod, through
which the arbor can pass, 2 and 5.
It is hard to imagine that a great clockmaker like Ferracina could
conceive such a complicated solution when he made the clock. There
is no historical record of a pendulum like this, of course, but once
again Brusa and Gorla, facing a doubtful situation, decided not to
leave thing as they were, as in conservative restoration, but to change
them even if they didn't exactly know how.
A drawing taken from a technical brief by Annibale Marini (clock
technician) and Giovanni Doria (temperatore) written for the Venetian
Municipality on 22nd July 1856, before De Lucia's work, indicates
that this is an illogical construction. This "Relazione" describes the
clock and the works required for its repair. A sketch, 6, shows the
horizontal link to the pendulum, and the text says that "improvements
to this part are needed, to enable the temperatore dismantling and
cleaning it, being the actual part fixed". Brusa says this must be
simply a proposal, because in the drawing the arm is facing left
7. Detail of the time regulating screw on the new pendulum. instead of right. We cannot however be sure of the viewpoint of the
artist.
 9. The new wheel and levers made to actuate the 132-blow strike. Two
pins on the spokes trip the diagonal lever to actuate the strike at noon
and midnight. Note the unfinished grinding signs.

8. Detail of the beat regulation device on the new pendulum.

to allow easy adjustments for the normal shift of the indications in
respect to the real sun and moon positions. This could have been a
Is it possible that a 1757 pendulum had metric regulating screws or good idea if it was not achieved by drilling the hub of the original
square cold rolled steel for its structure, as found in Gorla's Ferracina wheels. Brusa said that the 1757 work was excellent, but in
reproduction, 7 and 8? this case he damaged it to achieve a result that was not required by the
restoration. Everybody can accept the accumulation of errors in
Escape Wheel astronomical indications in an 18th Century mechanism. Once again,
The modified beat rate of the new pendulum required the rebuilding brand new galvanised bolts, with stamped heads, were used
of the escapement; the restorers replaced the existing anchor and pin- throughout.
wheel with new ones. They retained the pinwheel, although they
claimed to be returning the movement to the 1757 state. At that time, Other changes
however, the escapement was a Graham dead-beat. Furthermore, they All this could be quite enough to censure the restoration job, but there
used stainless steel machine cap-head screws to form the pins, 10. is much more. We visited the mechanism, now exhibited to the public
in Palazzo Ducale in Venice, and the impression we had from it was
5- Minute Mechanism simply horrible.
Brusa and Gorla changed the way in which the 5-minute mechanism Not only can the work be condemned from an historical point of
driving the digital display is actuated. In the 1858 movement, the view, but also technically.
escape arbor carried a small wheel, engaging with another wheel Using stainless steel cap head machine screws or hexagon
carrying a pin acting on a lever connected to the 5-minute train. Not galvanised metric nuts and bolts on a 18th Century movement, is
an ideal solution, but it was never a source of problems for the proper simply wrong. We could also see a newly made wheel whose fixing
running of the clock. In the restoration a completely new set of levers, holes were drilled out of place on the hub. John Wilding says it is not
was made to actuate the mechanism from a lower wheel in the necessary to discard a wheel if the misplaced holes are plugged and
time train. Was this really necessary in a 'conservative' restoration? plain finished to hide them, prior to making new ones. Gorla plugged
the holes but he roughly ground the surplus metal away, with no
Astronomical mechanism regard to the black matte finish. The result is that the misplaced holes
The 18th Century astronomical indication mechanism was modified are still very visible on the dark surrounding, 5.
On the pendulum itself, there are micrometric adjustment screws
both for the time and for the beat, made with pieces of metric threaded
rod, 7 and 8. Were these used in the 18th Century pendulum Brusa and
Gorla wanted to reproduce?
All over the clock, there are several signs of grinding, left
unp olished, 9. The level of the finish is more typical of large mechanical
industrial clocks than antique clocks.
Hexagon nuts and bolts of the quality found in hardware stores have
been widely used (see 11 for other examples). Was it too difficult or
expensive to make them on a small lathe with the same proportions
and materials used for the originals? Galvanized screws are simply
ugly on a clock, not to speak of an 18th Century mechanism. We saw
only a couple of screws that appeared to be made expressly for this
clock: they were easily distinguishable from the old ones because the
slots were not as neat as they should have been. They were clearly cut
with a hacksaw, not with a cutter on the lathe.
All clock parts when dismantled were punched with a heavy
hammer to identify them with figures. Was this really necessary? Why
10. The new escape wheel, the pins turned from cap-head screws. add other 20th Century marks to this mechanism? Some photos or
sketches of the structure would have been equally effective.
 12. Unrestored winding wheel.

Conclusion
We have to remember that Giuseppe Brusa and Alberto Gorla are very
well known in Italy, respectively as the most eminent horological
historian and as a tower clock specialist. Alberto Gorla has restored
several important tower clocks all over the country. We had never seen
any of his work before. We were astonished when we saw the result
of his interventions on the St. Mark's clock for the first time. We could
not imagine that a renowned clockmaker was capable of a failure like
this. Since that time, we asked some of our colleagues if they had seen
other examples of his work. We found two clockmakers who
confirmed that he usually works this way. This is not a unique case.
It is not a pleasant situation to describe a fellow craftsman's work
as wrong. Normally it should not be done. In this case it also casts
doubt on the work of Italian clockmakers. We repeatedly asked
Giuseppe Brusa to provide a technical description of the work done on
the clock. The Tower is public property, and under Italian law, the
restorers should make a detailed report of the work freely available. It
must include the reasons behind every intervention.
No account of the work was provided. We wonder if such a report
exists. All we found on the Venetian Museums website
(http://www.comune.venezia.it/museicivici/orologio/) is a weak reply
from Brusa to Alberto Peratoner; the first to denounce what was done
on the Clock.
Brusa says that PIAGET fully approved his work. We sincerely hope
that it either didn't examine it in depth or didn't express this opinion.
It is worth noting that on the website there is a picture of a very
worn wheel, shown to represent the bad condition of the clock prior
to the restoration. This wheel (and another three like it) has not been
restored. These are winding wheels that won't be used with the
electrified system devised by Gorla to wind the clock, 12.
May be there is a bright side in this sad story. The Venetian
Museums Director, Giandomenico Romanelli, said that every part
replaced in the clock has been preserved. If this is so, the clock could
be almost completely brought back to its 1857 state.
The Clock Tower is in bad condition and needs important
restoration work, which is yet to begin. In the meantime, the clock
mechanism will remain on display in Palazzo Ducale. It is very well
worth a visit for the 'horological tourist'. Since the movement has not
yet been remounted in place, we hope it will be easier to find a remedy
to the injuries it had received in the last few years of its half-
millennium long life. The Venetian authorities and PIAGET cannot
leave this situation unmodified. -

11. Example of the use of hexagon bolts.