Should York’s eighteenth-century automaton clock keep running?

The York automaton clock has glass rods that turn to look like falling water. According to an account published by the Antiquarian Horological Society, a full performance also sets pastoral figures, spinning stars and jewelled flowers in motion, while eleven bells play seven melodies. It is a clock meant to be watched as well as heard.

That spectacle poses a practical dilemma. The account says the clock can still run, but each demonstration adds cumulative wear. It also describes a long history of repairs: a pipe organ was replaced with a nineteenth-century Swiss musical box mechanism. Though the unsigned clock has long been attributed to James Cox, the account does not settle that attribution. Seeing it move may help visitors understand what it does, but how do its caretakers assess the wear caused by each performance?

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