Andrew Symington designed an "improved" clock which was driven by a simple hydraulic device.

Description

"Figure 1 is a front elevation of this clock and Figure 2 a side view. A is the dial plate V1 a vase which contains water or any other fluids body or sand by the flowing out of the contents of which through the pipe B the moving power is supplied. In the clock represented in the Drawings water is supposed to be the material employed. C is a filter or strainer which is attached to the inner mouth of the pipe B in order to … any impurities which may be mechanically mixed with the water from finding their way through into the pipe. D is a shallow glass vessel with conical discharge pipe into which the water falls from B. E is a bucket wheel to which motion is given by the falling upon it of the water from D. B2 is a pipe which conveys the used water from …"

Andrew Symington was regarded as "a man of considerable ability." The following notice was recorded in John Smith's "Old Scottish Clockmakers": ^[1]

SYMINGTON, ANDREW. Kettle, Fife, 1834-45.

“KETTLE. A curious piece of machinery to measure time has been invented by Mr. Andrew Symington, watchmaker here. This time-piece is more simple in its construction than the common eight-day clock requires only to be winded up once in twelve months and being quite silent in its movements will be admirably adapted for bedrooms. In this timepiece the pendulum and scapement are done away with, and a simple but efficient substitute is applied to the crown wheel as a detent, which only allows it to revolve once in an hour, and has quite a uniform motion without producing the smallest vibration on the machinery. Another important part of the discovery is a particular material for the pivots to move in, which is quite free from any cohesive quality and requires no oil, therefore avoiding the irregular motion produced by the evaporation of the oil and other causes. These are some of the advantages of this ingenious piece of mechanism, but we are not at present permitted to give a more particular description of it as the inventor intends to secure it by patent. Mr. Symington is about to construct one to be sent to London for the purpose of being exhibited there.” - Edinburgh Evening Courant, 2nd June 1834.

A similarly worded report was published in the Fife Herald and in the Mechanics' Magazine in 1834, Volume 21, page 272.

However, this account would better describe William Symington's entirely original concept of an "auletic" chronometer which indeed replaced the escapement and pendulum by a unique mechanism. Andrew Symington's version of a hydraulic clock was something quite different. Quite simply, his clock was driven by water dripping onto a bucket wheel; the escapement and pendulum were retained.

He had submitted a drawing and description of his pendulum escapement to the Society for Encouragement of the Useful Arts for Scotland in January 1837. ^{[2] [3]}

A more detailed description of the mechanism was published in the Edinburgh Evening Courant on 20 December, 1845:

"HYDRAULIC CLOCK BY MESSRS SYMINGTON & TEMPLE. - this important invention, being now registered, according to the Act of Parliament, we are at liberty to explain the principles on which the Hydraulic Clock is constructed. Attached to the axis of the crown wheel is a small bucket wheel on which the propelling power, a single drop of water in a second, acts. The action of a pendulum keeps the motion in perfect regularity and the other machinery is of the most simple description. It requires no winding up, and from its durability in the absence of friction it will be attended with very little expense in keeping it in repair. It exhibits time with the most perfect accuracy, and from its elegant appearance it is beautifully adapted for gentlemen's houses and public buildings. A clock fitted up in Falkland House, the residence of O.T. Bruce, Esquire, by the inventors, Messrs Symington and Temple, has kept time with the greatest possible precision for the last nine months, and so highly pleased has that gentleman been with it that he has got another fitted up in the hall of that princely edifice."

^[1] Smith, John, Old Scottish Clockmakers From 1453 to 1850 Compiled from Original Sources with Notes Second Edition Edinburgh 1921 Pages 377-378

^[2] The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal Volume 24, 1838 Page 210 Proceedings of the Society for Encouragement of the Useful Arts for Scotland. 11 January 1837. No. 410 Drawing and Description of a Pendulum Escapement

^[3] Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts 1841 Volume 1, page 203