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400 day or “Anniversary” clocks were introduced in the 1880s in Germany. Their popularity had its ups and downs, reaching a peak in the 1950s, when many U.S. servicemen sent clocks home as gifts.

For years, most 400 day clocks did not have the maker’s name or country on the dial. Later (1920s?), “Made in Germany” started appearing on the bottom of dials. Finally, in the early 1950s, it became customary for the maker’s name (or an abbreviation) to appear on the dial. Examples:

• Heco: Henry Coehler & Co. (a U.S. importer, not a maker)
• Herr: Uhrehfabrik Herr
• Kern: Kern & Sohne
• Koma: Konrad Mauch
• Kundo: Kieninger & Obergfell (K und O)
• Schatz: Aug. Schatz & Sohne (also known as Jahreuhrenfabrik)

I just repaired a Schatz (Jahresuhrenfabrik) 400 day clock that made about 1949 or 1950. The movement has no date, and says Jahresuhrenfabrik (German for Year Clock Company) in the circle around the 49. The number 49 is supposed to represent the year (1949) that this model of movement was introduced, although very similar movements had been made by this company since around 1900 or earlier.

The dial on this clock does not say “Schatz”, and I have seen other made about the same time with no name on the dial. Judging from the examples I have seen, the name Schatz starting appearing on dials around 1950 or 1951. If you have any information about this, please leave a comment below.

Repair Work

This clock had one very rough pivot (front center wheel pivot) which probably caused excessive friction. I smoothed and burnished it, polished the other pivots, and smooth broached the pivot holes.

The movement is no. 1278 in the Horolovar 400 Day Clock Repair Guide. It uses a 0.004 inch thick suspension spring.

Repair job 5015.

I just restored this Schatz standard size 400 day clock with diamond-shaped dial. The movement is dated 5 60 (May 1960) on the back. I think this is one of the most beautiful of 400 day clock designs. Made in the Black Forest of Germany.

The customer told me she had just taken it to a repair shop but that they were unable to repair it. After the movement was disassembled and cleaned, I found a few things that needed doing, in addition to pivot polishing:

• The front anchor pivot was bent and needed straightening (these pivots are thin and get bent easily);
• The rear center pivot was bent and needed straightening (this pivot much thicker than the anchor pivots and is not very easy to accidentally bent);
• Two bushings had been installed in the past (I don’t recommend installing bushings in 400 day clocks) and one was not quite upright and the hole was slightly too tight. I was able to upright the hole with a cutting broach, then I used a smoothing broach to polish it.

I replaced the broken suspension spring, and the clock ran properly. Below is a video:

Here are some photos:

The movement is Horolovar back plate no. 1014A. Suspension unit 6789 with .004 inch thick suspension spring. The base has plastic leveling discs. Repair job 5029.

I just repaired this Koma (Konrad Mauch) miniature 400 day clock from the mid-1950s. The case is 8 1/2 inches tall (not including handle), and is 10 1/4 inches tall including handle. The dial’s diameter is 4 3/8 inches overall. The case has glass in the front and sides, and a hinged brass back door. There is a knob on the back of the movement which is pulled out and turned to set the time.

The movement is similar to Horolovar back plate Nos. 1395C, 1398, 1398A, 1399 and 1399A but says “W4″ in the upper left corner.  The Horolovar 400 Day Clock Repair Guide says that these movements need suspension unit 14A with a .0032 inch thick suspension spring. When I tried the .0032 inch spring, the clock ran too fast. A .0031 inch spring makes this clock regulate properly, with the pendulum’s regulator near the center of its range.

Below is a video of this clock:

Here is a slideshow of this clock:

Repair job 5025.

This 1950s 400 day clock is labeled DeBruce on the dial and Royce Watch Co. on the back plate. It was made by Kundo and is the same as a Kundo standard 400 day clock except for the names. It has the Kundo logo on the back plate. Horolovar back plate no. 1499. It uses .0032 inch thick suspension spring.

Repair job 5009.

I repaired a Schatz standard 400 day clock made in August 1952. The next day, the hour hand did not align correctly with the minute hand. As I turned the minute hand forward, I saw that the hour hand was getting further and further behind. The hour hand was losing 1/4 hour every 12 hours, or one hour every 2 days!

I removed the hands and dial, and counted the number of teeth in the motion work gears. The minute wheel had 49 teeth instead of 48! I remembered reading about this problem years ago in the Horolovar 400 Day Clock Repair Guide (question 15 in the question and answer section). This is the first 400 day clock I’ve had with this problem. It probably baffled its owners, as it would seem to lose 1 hour every 2 days! I’m surprised that this problem wasn’t fixed years ago. The current owner bought it at a flea market and it wasn’t working, so he couldn’t observe the hour hand problem.

To correct the problem, I replaced the minute wheel with one having 48 teeth.

Repair job 4999. Horolovar back plate no. 1281. Dated 8 52.

Number teeth in Schatz standard motion works gears:

Cannon pinion 16

Minute wheel 48 and 12

Hour wheel 38

I was curious how quickly (or slowly) the various gears in the Schatz standard 400 day clock turned, and especially wanted to know how many rotations the mainspring barrel makes in a year and in 400 days.

Here are the results:

Beats per hour: 480 (8 beats per minute)

The escape wheel rotates every 5 minutes.

The center wheel rotates once per hour

T4 (the wheel driving the center wheel) rotates every 7.5 hours

T3 rotates every 2 days

T2 rotates every 256 hours (10.67 days)

The mainspring barrel rotates every 76 days. It rotates 4.77 times per year, and 5.23 times in 400 days.

Calculations:

First, the number of teeth were counted in each gear:

Barrel 86 teeth

T2 64 teeth (gear) 12 leaves (pinion)

T3 64 12

T4 60 10

T5 (center wheel) 96 8

T6 (escape wheel) 20 8

For all calculations, the center wheel is used as the starting point, we know that it makes one turn per hour. We then multiply a series of ratios to find the rotation speed of the other gears, and the number of beats per hour of the escape wheel.

For number of beats per hour, the escape wheel rotates faster by the ratio of the number of center wheel teeth to the number of leaves in the escape wheel pinion, times the number of escape wheel teeth times 2 (because each tooth of the escape wheel needs to escape twice – from both the entrance and the exit pallet).

Beats per hour = (96 / 8 ) x 20 x 2 = 480

Dividing by 60 minutes per hour gives 8 beats per minute.

For the rotation speed of the barrel, we multiply ratios of the gears driving the center wheel:

Rotation time in hours = 1 hour x (60 / 8 ) x (64 / 10) x (64 / 12) x (86 / 12) = 1835 hours

= 76 days,

corresponding to 4.77 rotations per year or 5.23 rotations per 400 days.

This Schatz standard size 400 day clock was made about 1949 or 1950 in Germany. It has the early form of the Schatz logo on the dial: written horizontally in black (later ones are red and incline slightly). It has Roman numerals instead of the more common Arabic numerals.

When this clock came in for repair most of the gears were rusty and the hour hand was broken off. I replaced most of the gears between the plates (the anchor or verge was usable). Before and after photos are shown below.

Here is a slide show:

Here is a video:

Repair job 4974. Horolovar back plate no. 1278, no date stamping. Uses 0.004 inch thick suspension spring.

I  just finished repairing this Schatz “Mademoiselle” 400 day clock, dated 7 56 (July 1956) on the movement. This clock has the Schatz miniature model 53 movement. This clock has a matching wall bracket that it sits on.

Repair Job 4945.