Demos II or III
A very interesting and light machine, from the head of Swiss inventor/manufacturer Theo Muggli, operating on the principle of rocking segments. I bought it at a Breker auction.The only disadvantage of these machines is that they were designed to be much simpler and cheaper than the existing machines, so Swiss quality went more or less out the window. Instead of carving the machine from a solid block of brass by removing all the bits that are not Demos-shaped, the numeral wheels are made of a zinc alloy, which deforms, cracks and breaks. As a result the clearing for the revolution counter has stopped working, and the counter itself is quite erratic. This means I will have to cast new wheels if I ever want it to work again. The rest of the machine stillm operates admirably well, and reminds one of the Hannovera C / EOS which has a similar operating principle, but is of slightly heavier and bulkier construction. The machine was stylistically ahead of its time, sporting an art-deco cover that is more reminiscent of the 1930s than of 1923, when it first came out. What exact model this is, is a bit unclear too - the cover is stamped "DEMOS II", but the decal says "Demos 3". It's not very clear what the difference would be anyway.
