As the 1950′s began, most (if not all) 400 day clocks in production were “standard” size, with movements about 2 5/8 to 2 3/4 inches wide. In the early to mid-1950′s, companies including as Kundo and Schatz designed “narrow plate” standard movements slightly less than 1 3/4 inches wide that could be imported into the USA as a “watch” instead of as a “clock”, with a lower import duty. From that time on, the Kundo standard 400 day clocks had the narrow movement. For a reason unknown to me, Schatz made their narrow plate movement for only a short time, and then reverted to their wide movement. Thus, the Schatz standard narrow movements are not very common.
I recently repaired this Schatz narrow plate clock. It has Horolovar back plate no. 1291A, dated 7 – 53 (July 1953). The movement has 2 jewels. It has model number 49R in a circle on the back. The movement has a thin brass plate screwed to the back to make it appear wide.
This example has an extra barrel and mainspring, which was intended to equalize the power to the escapement (but as far as I can tell, it did not provide any improvement). This feature is occasionally seen on examples from the early 1950′s.
Here are movies of the clock and escapement:
Here is a slide show:
Repair job 4822.
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