Sterling
Updated 11 January 2017.
Two companies with Sterling in their name were making synchronous clocks ca 1937. One was Sterling Croydon Clocks, Croydon, Surrey, who used the trade mark ‘Sterling’. The other was Sterling Clock Co Ltd, Dagenham, Essex, who used the trade mark ‘Ismay’. Comparison of a Sterling clock with an Ismay clock shows a number of similarities of movements, cases and hands. The only significant difference is that the Sterling clock has Arabic numerals whereas the Ismay clock has Roman numerals. In addition, the starting mechanisms are identical. The two companies must have been closely associated, although the precise relationship is not clear.
For more information on a clock click on the link. If no link see POOK L P. British domestic synchronous clocks 1930-1980. The rise and fall of a technology. Springer, 2015.
Sterling synchronous bedside clock (1)
Sterling synchronous bedside clock (2)
Sterling synchronous mantel clock (1) S 195 Sterling A
Sterling synchronous mantel clock (2) s-314-sterling-a
The Les Pook Miscellany 
April 23, 2013 at 3:16 am |
I have just restored a Sterling S18 Sterling A – it looks great (case stripped and re-shellaced) and nothing beats that grind grind grind to accompany the movement of the hands. On Flickr
May 5, 2016 at 3:29 pm |
I wonder if some of these were made by Sterling Instruments in Chard Somerset, I can remember assembling one from scrap as an apprentice back in 1954.
May 6, 2016 at 7:40 am |
It’s certainly possible. Ismay Industries had several subsidiaries and Sterling synchronous clock production was not confined to one site.