His hands were too big, so he was never taken on as a watchmaker’s apprentice anywhere, despite applying several places. That did not stop Rasmus Sørnes (1893-1967), however, from building one of the most advanced astronomical clocks ever made, and certainly the most complicated and remarkable timepiece ever seen in Norway.
The clock’s features include locations of the sun and moon in the Zodiac, Julian calendar, Gregorian calendar, GMT, local time with day-light saving time and leap year, solar and lunar cycle corrections, eclipses, local sunset and sunrise, moonphase, and tides. It also features a planetarium showing Pluto’s 248 year orbit and the 25,800 year period of the polar ecliptics (precession of the Earth’s axis).
Sørnes lived on Jeløya in Moss. Not only did he build the clock single-handedly, he also designed and created the tools to make the different parts required, displaying exceptional ingenuity and craftsmanship. And all this in his spare time and with his own funding.
The clock, which is one of four Sørnes built, is on dispay at the Borgarsyssel Museum in Sarpsborg, together with some of the tools he used to build it.
You can read more about Sørnes here mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?p=419678. A book (in English) about his life and his clocks is also available from the museum.
Borgarsyssel Museum, Gamlebygaten 8, Sarpsborg. Tel: 69 11 56 50, www.ostfoldmuseet.no (Norwegian only)