Master clock. Can anyone identify where it came from please?

[lloydwells]

For a couple of years this rather nice ITR master clock has been dangling from my dining room wall when I bought it ( £70 bargain ) it came with a small envelope attached to the inside of the case which is apparently a letter from the GPO to the guy that bought it off them in 1971 along with the receipt for the £1.50 he paid.
I have attached a couple of photos of the letter which states it was sold as scrap from " the old radio station Brentwood after the ETE had vacated the building " it's that that id like to shed some light on. Unusually for an ex GPO clock it's an ITR not a Gent etc it's the weight driven self winding variety and had an electromagnetic pick up attached to the pendulum when bought which I assume provided impulses for seconds.
Any thoughts gratefully received.

[mark_in_manc]

That's nice - it's older than my ITR clock which (judging by where I found it) dates from mid 60s. The ITR slaves I have are all one minute pulse types. I wonder which Brentwood we are talking about - I went to school in the one in Essex, but I can't picture where your letter might refer to.
cheers
Mark

[barrymagrec]

Synchronome? The GPO certainly had dealings with them, they made the talking clock system at one time.

[Nickthedentist]

£1.50 for a master and some slaves... BARGAIN, even back then!

Does anyone know what ETE stands for?

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

£1.50 for a master and some slaves... BARGAIN, even back then!

Does anyone know what ETE stands for?

https://www.ete.co.uk/ ?

I don't know if they were going in 1971 though.

[Later] No, formed in 1984: https://www.ete.co.uk/about-us/

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by barrymagrec

Synchronome? The GPO certainly had dealings with them, they made the talking clock system at one time.

But this one's an ITR = International Time Recorders. Later IBM, I believe

[Granitehill]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

£1.50 for a master and some slaves... BARGAIN, even back then!

Does anyone know what ETE stands for?

ETE stood for "External Telecommunications Executive" which was the international bit of the Post Office/BT. ETE were in charge of all the HF stations (Rugby, Leafield etc). It also had some part in running the international subsea cables and earth stations. It eventually became a part of BT Global.

In times past, it was quite common for PO to sell off bits of kit to interested staff. Receipts were issued to keep it all above board. (I got quite a few bits of testgear this way). In more recent times the liability lawyers put an end to that....

[Tim]

In times past, it was quite common for PO to sell off bits of kit to interested staff. Receipts were issued to keep it all above board. (I got quite a few bits of testgear this way)

Me too!
AVO vcm, a rather nice Roband Varex power supply, an isolation transformer, Nixie tube frequency counter, wooden workbench and half a dozen fluorescent light fittings and a load of “RS” grey storage draws.

[M0AFJ, Tim]

Originally Posted by lloydwells

For a couple of years this rather nice ITR master clock has been dangling from my dining room wall when I bought it ( £70 bargain ) it came with a small envelope attached to the inside of the case which is apparently a letter from the GPO to the guy that bought it off them in 1971 along with the receipt for the £1.50 he paid.
I have attached a couple of photos of the letter which states it was sold as scrap from " the old radio station Brentwood after the ETE had vacated the building " it's that that id like to shed some light on. Unusually for an ex GPO clock it's an ITR not a Gent etc it's the weight driven self winding variety and had an electromagnetic pick up attached to the pendulum when bought which I assume provided impulses for seconds.
Any thoughts gratefully received.

Wonder if they meant Ongar?, I’ve never heard of a radio station at Brentwood and Ongar is pretty close.