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These two “Plymouth” tambour mantel clocks made by Seth Thomas came into my shop just a couple of days apart. They are similar but have different movements. Both have lively hour and half hour strike on two chime rods.

Plymouth was a name that Seth Thomas put on some clocks ca. 1930 – 1950. If anyone has details of this, please let me know.

Our first example is labeled 89IM on the movement. This is a variation on the popular No. 89 movement having hour and half-hour strike, with two hammers that simultaneously strike on two chime rods. The date code is 37-11 which represents November, 1937. The label on the back door has the date 5/21/38 (May 21, 1938) hand written on it. This is probably the date the clock was sold.

Our second example has the later Seth Thomas time and strike movement that was introduced to save on cost. It is labeled 10-40 and 4503, which could be date codes for October 1940 or March, 1945. If anyone can help me interpret these numbers, please let me know! Similar movements have been seen with model number A-200 on them. The label says:

Guarantee and Directions
Covering Clocks Equipped With
4300, 4500 and 4600 Series 8-Day Pendulum
Strike Movements in Tambour Cases

Both cases are 20 inches wide and 9 1/4 inches tall, with bezels measuring approximately 6 1/4 inches outside diameter. Both have “fake inlay” printed on the case front. Both  have aluminum dials. The older dial has embossed numerals, but the numerals on the newer dial are printed only. Both clocks have instruction labels inside the back doors and are illustrated below.

Movement Summary

• The No. 89 movement was introduced about 1900, and was made in many variations.
• It was replaced in the late 1930s or the early 1940s with the second movement shown above. This has smaller plates and gears and was probably a cost reduction. It is not as good, as it seems to need quite strong mainsprings to run well.
• In 1955, a flood badly damaged the Seth Thomas factory. They phased out movement manufacturing and began importing many movements from Germany. They used many Hermle movements.

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:

I recently repaired the movement of this Seth Thomas 8-day OG shelf clock.

Before repair, the clock would run for several minutes and then stop. While running, it would go in and out of beat (the ticking would sometimes be even and sometimes uneven).

The movement was taken apart and cleaned. The major problem was that some of the escape wheel teeth were non-uniform. I used the Webster escape wheel tooth straightener to ensure that all the teeth were at the same angle. The wheel was mounted in the lathe and the teeth bought to a uniform height, then the burrs were removed. The pallets were polished, the worn pinion wires in the escape wheel pinion were replaced, the pivots polished, and bushings installed in the worn pivot holes.

The following video shows the escapement action before and after repair:

The following video shows the movement in the case and shows the hour striking:

It is possible that the movement is not original to the case. We suspect this for two reasons:

• The pendulum bob is quite low in the case;
• The end of the center arbor touches the glass when the door is closed.

The movement is labeled “Plymouth” which means that it was made in 1865 or earlier when the town where Seth Thomas was located had the name “Plymouth Hollow”. It 1865 the town name was changed to Thomaston to honor Mr. Thomas. The case label says “Thomaston” so this could be a transition clock made around 1865, or it could be a later case with a older movement. The reverse painted glass is not original to the case, it appears to be a New Haven multicolored glass.

The weights are replacements, weighing as follows:

• Time weight: 8 pounds 1 ounce
• Strike weight: 6 pounds 9 ounces

Repair job 5064.

I thought it would be fun to show all the parts of this movement. In the first photo it has been disassembled and is ready for cleaning. You can tell it needs cleaning by the black deposits on the pivots (the ends of the gear shafts that turn in the holes in the brass movement plates). Many of the parts are strung on wires for convenience in cleaning. Parts such as the hands, chains and hammer heads are not put in the cleaning fluid.

This movement plays Westminster chimes on each quarter hour, and strikes the number of each hour after the hour chime. The time gear train is in the center, chiming on the right, and hour striking on the left. A clock that chimes has about twice as many parts as one with just hour and half-hour striking.

Many of the pivots needed polishing to remove wear, and I installed 19 bushings to correct for wear in the pivot holes.

The movement is labeled at the bottom:

Gravely Furn. Co. Inc.
Martinsville, VA USA
Made in Germany
No ()) Jewels
Unadjusted
PL 85 CM

This movement goes to a Ridgeway grandfather clock.

Repair job 4968.

I repaired this Junghans W202 clock movement. It has the numbers 33 3 on the back which may be a date code of March, 1933; does anyone know if this is correct?

The biggest weakness of this movement is that the mainsprings are attached to their barrels by tongues cut out of the barrel wall itself. When I received the movement for repair, the time barrel tongue was broken and had been unsuccessfully repaired. The tongue on the strike mainspring barrel broke as I was winding the spring in after cleaning

I made new steel mainspring hooks, drilled a hole in each barrel, and riveted them in. The slideshow below shows the previous repair on the time mainspring and barrel, one new hook I made and installed, and general views of the movement and dial.

The strike second gear had a gear tooth that about to break off. I inserted a new tooth. The pivots needed polishing, and I also installed several bushings in worn pivot holes.

Repair job 4961.

I want to thank Clockmakers Newsletter for their article on repairing barrel hooks.

I recently overhauled a William Gilbert walnut shelf clock from the 1880s. The loop ends of the mainsprings were labeled:

W. Barnes Patented Nov. 27, 1866

The NAWCC Library & Research Center was able to give me the number of this patent: 59,943, issued to Wallace Barnes. Then I was able to find the patent on Google Patents.

Here are the mainspring ends:

The patent describes how the mainspring can be hardened, tempered and blued, then the loop end attached. The patent implies that this is the first use of a separate piece for the loop end, riveted on. Previously, the end of the spring was rolled to form the end.

Here is the text of the patent

IMPROVED METHOD OF TEMPERING CLOCK SPRINGS,
WALLACE BARNES, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT.
Letters Patent No. 59,943, dated November 27, 1866.

SPECIFICATIONS

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, Wallace Barnes, of Bristol, county of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful improvements in the mode or process of manufacturing Clock Springs; and I do hereby declare that the same is described and represented in the following specification and drawings, so as to enable others skilled in the art to produce or make the same therefrom.

The nature of this improvement will be understood from the specification and drawings.

The object desired to be attained thereby, is to produce a spririg from a poorer quality of metal, and, at the same time, render a spring of given dimensions more effective for use, and more merchantable as an article of trade. And to effect this object, the springs are first hardened in the common way. Then, after the hardening process, they are placed between metal plates having their surfaces (one or both) corrugated or perforated, so as to allow the tempering fluid to flow freely between the coils of the spring and the plates, and immersed in molten lead or its equivalent, for the purpose of drawing the temper, or, in other words, for the purpose of producing the required temper to the spring, and also to produce a true, even position of the edge of the spring relative to all parts of the coil. The advantage of this operation, or result thereof, is to produce a greater amount of effective and prolonged action of a spring of equal dimensions, and to avoid the otherwise great amount of friction or obstruction to the mechanism of a clock, &c., when compared with those now in use. Then the spring is polished and blued in the ordinary way. After the above is accomplished, a clasp, a, having a sleeve formation, c, is rivetted to the outer end of the spring, d, instead of coiling the end thereof, as in the old way. The advantage gained by the use of this process will be apparent. The spring can be finished complete its entire length, hardened, tempered, polished, and blued, before the clasp is attached thereto. The clasp may be made of any desirable metal, and secured on each side of the end of the spring by rivets between the two parts of the clasp, thus protecting the end of the spring where it is liable to break or give way, and thereby provide a more perfect sleeve, by mean’s of which it (the spring) is held more perfectly in its desired place. It also produces a more merchantable article. I believe I have thus shown the nature and process whereby I produce this improvement.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is—

The mode or process in the manufacture of springs for clocks, &c., substantially as described.

WALLACE BARNES. [L. S.] ,

Witnesses:
E. M. BLiss,
Jeremy W. Bliss.

The owner of an old clock often asks, “How old is it?” Some clockmaking companies helped us answer this question by putting date codes on their products. (Actually, date coding was done for business reasons, including facilitating the ordering of spare parts.) Seth Thomas is one company that put date codes on many of their clocks.

Some Seth Thomas electric clocks from the late 1940s and early 1950s have a date code stamped into the rear of the case, below the power cord opening. The code is 4 digits, and I believe that the first two digits represent the year, and the last two digits give the month.

Shown below are two examples of the “Baxter” wooden case time only clock. This clock is 8 7/16 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches tall, with a convex glass over the two-tone silver color dial.

The first example illustrated below has the following date codes:

• Movement: 4712 (December 1947)
• Motor: 43 1 47 (may be January 1947)
• Outside case, beneath power cord on metal cover: 4712 (December 1947)

The second example has the following date codes:

• Movement: 3 48 (March 1948)
• Motor: 5001 (January 1950)
• Outside case, beneath power cord on wood: 5002 (February 1950)

I may not be interpreting the date code exactly right. One source said that the code gives year and quarter. This can’t always be right, as the examples above show a “12″, which cannot be a quarter! I recall seeing a “13″ for these digits once, so perhaps the second two digits represent a lunar month! Westclox used lunar months at one time for their bookkeeping, but I’m not sure about Seth Thomas.

Historical Note

On the first example above the metal rear cover is recessed into the wood, whereas on the second it is not.

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.