Buy Unusual Wall Clocks

ANGELO TORNAGHI Superb wall clock with painted dial signed A. Tornaghi, Sydney. Cedar case (Toona australis), high quality brass and steel movement, anchor escapement with steel chain/ brass fusee and pendulum. Case attached by timber pegs to the dial surround. Angelo Tornaghi was born in Milan in 1824. He was a supporter of the campaigns of Garibaldi in 1848-49. He arrived in Australia in 1854, representing the firm of London instrument makers, Negretti and Zambra, to supervise the installation of their equipment at Sydney’s observatory. He then went into business in Sydney as a clock maker and instrument maker at Bridge Street and later George Street. He was soon established as a maker and importer of scientific instruments and was well known as a quality clock maker and supplier. He installed “Little Brother”, the smaller external clock at the George Street end of the GPO Sydney, among other renowned precision public clocks. Today, Angelo Tornaghi’s clocks are keenly prized by collectors of horology and Australiana alike. He retained a connection with Sydney Observatory and was part of the observing team organised by HC Russell for the 1874 Transit of Venus. Tornaghi was closely involved in the local Italian community. He was well known and respected in the wider community, serving two terms as Mayor of Hunters Hill. He died in 1906. (edit by Michael Chapman of an article in The Australian Antique Collector, 1983, Maguire, Roslyn, pp42-46).

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