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This Kundo miniature 400 day clock from the 1950s has a case similar to the Schatz “London Coach”. it is 8 1/4 inches tall (including finial). The side panels and rear panel are glass with a molded pattern. The front panel is plain glass.

I cleaned the movement, straightened the hand shaft and replaced the mainspring (the old mainspring had been cleaned in the past without removing it from the barrel and it had corrosion marks). Also, the suspension unit was not quite long enough.

Below are some pictures, there are more on my Picasa web album.

Here is a video:

Job 5108. Horolovar back plate no. 1379A.

This Schatz standard 400 day clock was made in September, 1954 (date code 9 54 on the rear of the movement). It has a beautiful engraved, silvered brass dial.

I cleaned the movement, polished several pivots, replaced the suspension spring and mainspring, and polished and lacquered the case and pendulum (one of the photos below shows all the parts of the pendulum when it was apart for polishing). The base was so full of cracks that I replaced it with an identical old base that was in good condition.

Here is a video:

Job 5088, back plate no. 1014A.

If your clock has stopped working and you think it is “wound too tight”, DON’T TRY TO UNWIND IT! You will just break it worse.

I just received a Schatz 400 day anniversary clock that was made in April 1953. Someone pushed on the “click” (the device that clicks as you wind the mainspring). It unwound with a big bang, and damaged the barrel and broke one of the pivots (the small ends of the gear shafts. This added at least $70 to the repair bill!

In most cases, your clock did not stop because it was “wound too tight.” It stopped because it needs to be taken apart, cleaned, and other necessary repairs made.

DO NOT TRY TO UNWIND YOUR CLOCK! BEING “WOUND TOO TIGHT” IS NOT THE PROBLEM.

Schatz (Aug. Schatz & Sohne) made this 1000 day clock in November 1954 (it has date code 11 54 on the rear of the movement). This is the earlier movement style with straight legs. Around mid-1955, Schatz changed the plate design to have curved legs (see this article for a view of the curved leg design).

I cleaned the movement, polished several pivots, and replaced the mainspring and suspension spring.

Below are some photos, there are more in my Picasa Web Album.

Here is a video of the clock:

Horolovar back plate number 1010. Repair job 5066.

Why I Replaced the Mainspring

The original mainspring had rust and sticky green gunk on it. An earlier repairer soaking the entire mainspring barrel in cleaning fluid instead of removing the spring for cleaning probably caused this.

These 2 clocks have large dials with 3 5/8 inch time track (the standard dial has 3 1/4 inch time track). They have attractive skeleton hands. Kundo made both clocks. The left one says “Welby” on the dial and movement.

The left one has the type of pendulum used for many years (it has a slot in the top part of each pendulum arm). The right one has the later type of pendulum without slots in the arms (I wonder if it originally had the earlier type).

The left clock has the longer, earlier type of movement mounting nuts (visible beneath the platform). The right clock has the later type of short mounting nuts.

Kundo used 2 methods to mount the dial to the movement. Earlier dials have taper pins through posts. Later dials have rotating fasteners. The photos below show both types.

Here is a video of these clocks:

Repair jobs 5079 and 5100.

The Seth Thomas “Office No. 6″ is a wall clock in a rectangular wooden case. Time-only and time and strike versions were available. The earlier ones had a removable scroll top and a bracket base, but by 1924 it was being made in a plain case.

This example looks similar to that in the photo labeled “1924″ in Tran Duy Ly’s Seth Thomas clock book. The case is dark mahogany, 31 inches tall, 15 5/8 inches wide, and the dial has a 10 3/4 inch time track. The movement is 8-day time only, no. 123 E. I first overhauled this clock in 1999 (polished pivots and installed 5 bushings). It ran until 2009, when the click broke (an uncommon occurrence).

I cleaned the movement and did the following repairs:

• Installed a new click;
• Installed a new mainspring, as the old one had a squeaky action even after cleaning and oiling. I installed a Merritt’s P-1956 3/4 x 0.0165 x 96 inch mainspring (the new spring opened up to 5 1/4 inch diameter after being wound and unwound 5 times).
• The pivots, which I had polished during the last overhaul, were still in excellent condition.

This movement has stopworks for the mainspring, I set it up so that it stops the winding when the spring is one turn from being fully wound. The case has a beat plate, and the motion of the pendulum measured on the plate is as follows:

• Escape arc:  + and – 0.75 degrees
• Wound up: + and – 3.3 degrees
• Rundown 3 days: + and – 3.2 degrees
• Rundown 7 days: + and – 2.8 degrees

The paint on the dial was flaking badly, and the customer wanted it restored. I had it repainted by The Dial House in Dallas, Georgia.

Here is a slide show of the clock and its movement:

Repair job 1891.

The “Verdi” drop octagon wall clock was made from 1877 to 1893. From 1877 to 1885 it was made with a Welch, Spring and Company label; after that it had an E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company label. The case is rosewood veneered, 31 inches long, 12 inch dial (11 inch minute track).

This example has an 8-day time only movement driven by two mainsprings. The mainsprings are the original thick, roughly finished springs. They are in good condition and provide plenty of power to operate the clock. They are narrower than standard 8-day mainsprings, only 3/8 inch wide. They are quite thick, 0.022 inch.

The escapement is a club tooth deadbeat (or semi-deadbeat, as there is slight recoil during locking). The escapement was patented by B. B. Lewis on August 31, 1870, patent number 106,843.

The dial on this example was repainted by The Dial House, Dallas, Georgia. The second hand is a replacement.

Besides cleaning, the movement needed the following repairs:

• Tighten the click rivets;
• Polish pivots;
• Install 7 bushings;
• Replace one bent pinion wire in the second pinion;
• Replace the pinion wires in the escape wheel;
• Increase the hand set tension.

Here is a video of the escapement:

Here is a video of the case:

Here is a slide show of the clock and movement:

Repair job 5023.

Historical reference: NAWCC Bulletin Supplement Number 12, February 1978, “The Welch, Spring and Company”, by Owen H. Burt and Jo Burt.

Many antique French clock movements are secured in the case by tension: Two screws from the back cover pull on two straps attached to the dial plate. Friction is relied upon to keep the movement secure in the case.

Sometimes the movement may rotate in the case even with the screws securely tightened. This can easily happen when winding the clock. If the movement rotates, the clock will be out of beat (not ticking evenly), and may stop or not run reliably.

One way to secure the movement is to cut 4 thin pieces of double-sided tape (such as carpet tape) and stick them to the edge of the dial pan (where the dial pan presses against the case). The movement must be taken out of the case to do this. Cut the tape to a curved, narrow shape that will not be visible when the movement is installed.

Here are two clocks I just did this to: