ClockInfo.com

Schatz 1000 Day Clock from 1955

Bill Stoddard — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:13:23 +0000

I just repaired this Schatz 1000 day clock made in February 1955. This is the round model, and this one is old enough to have a glass dome (the plastic dome model have an extra piece on the base to engage the dome’s locking lugs).

I polished most of the brass pieces, and installed a new old stock dial.

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Repair job 6070. The movement is Horolovar back plate no. 1010. It uses a .0024 inch thick Horolovar suspension spring. I polished the pivots. I find that polishing the barrel pivots on the barrel arbor helps these clocks to run better.

Setting Your Clock Ahead to Daylight Saving Time

Bill Stoddard — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:00:30 +0000

Daylight Saving Time in the USA officially starts Sunday March 10, 2013 at 2:00 a.m. You will need to set your clocks forward one hour. I recommend doing this before you go to bed on Saturday night (March 9th).

On the vast majority of clocks, it is okay to set the hands forward one hour. When setting the hands, you should pause at each time the clock will strike or chime. On clocks where you set the hands directly (not having a time set knob), move the minute hand (long hand), and the hour hand will automatically follow.

Hermle Clocks (such as the ones I sell at Bill’s Clockworks): You may turn the minute hand ahead one hour, pausing each quarter hour for a chiming clock or each half hour for a striking clock.

Cuckoo Clocks: Move the minute hand ahead one hour, pausing at the hour and half hour for the clock to cuckoo.

Grandfather Clocks: Move the minute hand forward one hour, pausing at each quarter hour for the clock to chime.

Chelsea Ship’s Bell Clocks: Turn the minute hand ahead pausing at the hour and half hour for the clock to strike.

Antique American wall, mantel and shelf clocks: Move the minute hand forward one hour, pausing at the hour and half hour for the clock to strike.

French Antique Clocks: Move the minute hand forward one hour, pausing at the hour and half hour for the clock to strike.

400 Day Clocks: Move the minute hand forward one hour.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT FORCE THE MINUTE HAND. IF YOU FEEL AN OBSTRUCTION, STOP MOVING THE HAND.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT MOVE THE HOUR (SHORT) HAND – IT WILL MOVE BY ITSELF AS YOU MOVE THE MINUTE HAND.

DISCLAIMER: I AM PROVIDING THIS INFORMATION AS A FREE SERVICE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS CAUSED BY FOLLOWING THESE DIRECTIONS.

Marine or Ship’s Chronometer: IT IS BEST TO LEAVE THE HANDS ALONE. Consult a specialist before setting a chronometer. It is best not to set the hands, just record the chronometer’s error each day.

1939 Plymouth (by Seth Thomas) Tambour Mantel Clock with Quarter Hour Strike

Bill Stoddard — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:00:26 +0000

This tambour mantel clock has the unusual feature of quarter-hour striking. It does bim-bam striking on the first, second and third quarters, and strikes one rod on the hour (see video below). The mahogany case is 9 1/4 inches tall and 19 inches wide. The dial is silver plated brass with applied bronze numerals. The minute track in 5 inches diameter, and the minute hand is 2 1/2 inches long.

The dial has no maker’s name, just “Made in U.S.A.” at the bottom. The label inside the back door says:

THE PLYMOUTH CLOCK
Thomaston, Conn.

Plymouth was a division of Seth Thomas, which marketed clocks made by Seth Thomas, but with the Plymouth name instead of Seth Thomas.

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This clock uses the later type of Seth Thomas mantel clock movement (made in USA), as described in Plymouth (by Seth Thomas) 1940 Mantel clock, modified to strike quarters instead of just hour and half-hour. The model number 4601 is stamped on the back, as is the date code 11 39 (November 1939).

Repair job 5939. I polished the pivots and installed 20 bushings. There was lots of bearing wear due to the strong mainsprings that this movement uses. The time mainspring was replaced in the past, and I replaced it again with a thinner one (Empire 280-17-505 11/16 by 0.0163 by 96 inches, shortened by 13 inches). The strike mainspring is the original one measuring 11/16 by 0.018 inch.

This movement has rack and snail strike. To allow for quarter-hour striking, the following changes were made from the hour and half-hour strike movement:

The lifting cam on the front of the center arbor has 4 lobes of equal length (instead of 2 lobes) to activate the strike every quarter-hour;
There is a quarter-hour snail on the rear of the center arbor. This controls the number of quarter-hour strikes, from 1 to 3;
There is another cam on the rear of the center arbor (between the quarter-hour snail and the back plate). It has one lobe that holds the rear hammer up on the hour so that it cannot strike. Thus, the hour strike is on only one rod, and the first, second and third quarters strike bim-bam on two rods);
There is a lever on the rear strike hammer lifter lifted by the cam mentioned above;
There is a rack tail on the rear of the hour rack arbor that bears on the quarter-hour snail to control the quarter-hour strike.

When assembling the movement, set the hour snail so that the front rack-tail can fall into the notch between the 1:00 and 2:00 steps on the first, second and third quarters. If there is clicking when the rear hammer strikes, grease the rear end of its lifter.

A 1950s Cuckoo Clock that Fell Off the Wall

Bill Stoddard — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:10:31 +0000

This 1950s German cuckoo clock fell off the wall. Fortunately, it wasn’t too badly damaged. All of the wood case parts had clean breaks, and no one had tried gluing it yet. The left photo below shows it as my customer brought it to me.

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Repair job 5838. Case glued together, movement cleaned, pivots polished, 12 bushings installed.

Kundo Diamond Dial 400 Day Clock

Bill Stoddard — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:50:35 +0000

This is such a pretty clock, and I really like this style, so I had to show it here. This was made by Kundo (Kienineger & Obergfell) in Germany in the 1950s, and has the diamond-shaped dial. It is a standard-size 400 day clock.

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Job 5857. Cleaned, one pivot polished, new suspension spring (Horolovar 0.0032 inch thick) installed.

Seth Thomas Sharon Echo-S Electric Steeple Clock

Bill Stoddard — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:42:34 +0000

This cute little steeple clock is 11 1/16 inch tall and 6 1/2 inches wide, and was probably made in the 1950s. It strikes the hour and half-hour on a small brass bell.

The motor in this clock is a replacement made within the last 10 – 15 years or so. The old motor quit turning, so a new one was installed. The clock movement was not cleaned at the same time, so the grit and dried oil kept causing wear. When I received the clock for repair, one pivot was completely worn away and another was worn almost all the way through.

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The 2 bad pivots were replaced, other pivots polished, and bushings installed. Now the clock runs like new.

This clock movement has a typical feature of Seth Thomas electric clocks – the striking is driven by a small mainspring that the motor winds.

Repair job 5887. 15 bushings, repivot 2 arbors, tighten loose pinion wires.

Terry Clock Company Walnut Shelf Clock

Bill Stoddard — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 07:41:01 +0000

This one-day walnut shelf clock was made by Terry Clock Co., Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Terry Clock Co. was in Pittsfield from 1883 – 1888. The company was located in Waterbury, Connecticut from 1867 – 1880. In 1888 they became known as Russell & Jones Clock Co.

This clock is 20 3/16 inches tall and 12 13/16 inches wide. The minute track on the dial is 4 7/8 inches diameter, and the minute hand is 2 9/16 inches long.

This clock has an interesting semi-deadbeat escapement, as in the Terry clock in my previous post, and shown in the video below:

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Job 5909. If the time mainspring ever breaks, it should be replaced with a much thinner spring, as the pendulum swing is much larger than it needs to be! The mainspring sizes (both original) are:

Time mainspring 5/8 by 0.0185 to 0.019 inches
Strike mainspring 5/8 by 0.017 – 0.0175 inches

New Batch of Timesavers 15959 Clock Mainsprings

Bill Stoddard — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:11:38 +0000

I wrote before about the Timesavers 15959 clock mainspring, specified as 3/4 by 0.0165 by 120 inches. My latest batch of these springs are different: they have a copper rivet and the loop is formed from the spring itself (i.e., not a separate piece). Also, the spring is thinner, the one I used is 0.0153 inch thick, which is plenty strong enough for many antique American clocks. I used it for the time mainspring in a Sessions black mantel clock.

Below are photos of variations on the 15959 mainspring I have received:

Left: 0.0145 inch thick, labeled 37 on the loop;
Center: 0.0165 inch thick, labeled 42 on the loop;
Right: 0.0153 in thick (only one example measured so far), copper rivet.
Bottom row: A Sessions black mantel clock in which I installed the 15959 mainspring with copper rivet. I installed the spring in the time train, and it provides plenty of power.

Repair job 5921. Installed 14 bushings, replaced the damaged time mainspring (Timesavers 15959 with copper rivet, 0.00153 inch thick), re-pinned one pinion, replaced the click on the time mainwheel. The original time mainspring was 0.0176 inch thick (but the replacement needs to be thinner). The original strike mainspring is 0.172 inch thick.

The clock is 10 7/16 inches tall and 18 inches wide. The minute hand is 2 1/8 inches long.

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Schatz Midget 400 Day Clock Made in 1968

Bill Stoddard — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:00:21 +0000

Schatz Midget 400 Day Clock Made in 1968This Schatz “Midget” 400 day clock was made in September, 1968 (date code 9 68 on the back of the movement). The midget is identified by “JUM/7″ in the circle on the back. The pendulum on these clocks goes faster than on the miniature models – it makes 12 half-oscillations per minute.

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Repair job 5906. Horolovar back plate no. 1013B. I polished the pivots, replaced the damaged barrel cap, and replaced the suspension spring with 0.0023 inch thick Horolovar spring. (The Horolovar repair guide calls for a 0.0022 inch spring, but that was too thin and the clock ran slow, so I used a 0.0023 inch thick spring. This midget movement makes 12 beats per minute, not 10 as stated in the Repair Guide.)

Schatz Standard 400 Day Clock with Unusual Pillars and Roman Numerals

Bill Stoddard — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

This Schatz standard 400 day clock has an unusual design on the pillars (see photos). Instead of the common leaves pattern, there are a series of connected arcs and dots. The movement date is 6 52 (June 1952) and the dial is the attractive and less-common style with Roman numerals.

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Repair job 5926. Horolovar back plate no. 1281 with adjustable pallets. I cleaned the movement, polished the pivots, and installed a new 0.004 inch Horolovar suspension spring.