15 June 2023
The Clockmakers' prize for highest achieving student on the Horology BA course at Birmingham City University went to Andrew Hyatt, whose final year project involved the creation of an orrery, which includes the Earth, Moon, Mars, some moons of Mars and a variety of asteroids.
It is designed to use a modified Prior escapement, and a trifold pendulum. It also utilises a novel and visually striking winding ratchet, easily visible in the image.
As Andrew freely admitted, time was in short supply, and a significant amount of work remains to be completed on the orrery, but he has this in hand.
In addition to the WCC prize, Andrew scooped a series of other awards on the evening, and we shall look forward eagerly to charting his future progress in horology.
