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1950s Quail & Cuckoo Clock, Welby, Germany

Bill — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:15:58 +0000

A customer recently brought in this 1950s quail and cuckoo clock for repair. The case was dusty from years of storage. I cleaned it with Natchez Solution and it came out looking great. This clock has the solid brown finish that was used on many cuckoo clocks from the 1950s and 60s. The case is 18 inches tall and 13 inches wide, with a 4 inch dial. The clock was made in Germany and imported by Welby.

Below is a video of the clock in operation.

The instruction sheet on the back of the clock is not the correct one for a quail and cuckoo clock, it describes a cuckoo clock with rack and snail cuckoo that is self-synchronizing. On this quail and cuckoo, if the clock runs down, the quail and cuckoo may get behind and will need manual synchronization.

Synchronizing the quail and cuckoo:

The quail should call once on the first quarter, twice on the half hour, 3 times at quarter to the hour, and 4 times on the hour. If it does not, you advance the quail by moving the minute hand forward to 3 minutes before a quarter hour (3,6, 9 or 12) then moving the minute hand back 10 minutes. Each time this is done, the quail does the next quarter hour. Do this until the quail is correct.

To synchronize the cuckoo, move the minute hand forward (allowing the quail to go on each quarter) to the next hour (except if the next hour is 1:00, keep going to 2:00). Open the door on the right side of the of the clock, and push in on the vertical wire. Each time the wire is pushed in, the cuckoo will call the next hour. Do this until the cuckoo calls the correct hour.

Then move the minute hand forward to set the clock to the correct time, pausing each quarter for the quail (and cuckoo on the half hour and hour).

This clock cuckoos after the quail on both the hour and half hour. On antique quail and cuckoo clocks (around 1920 and older), the cuckoo goes only on the hour.

Repair job 5011.

1880s Cuckoo Clock with Wood Plate Movement

Bill — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:16:19 +0000

I recently overhauled the movement of this clock. The case was in very good condition, it just needed to have a couple of broken leaves glued on and the surface wiped down with wood feeder. I love all the hand carved leaves on the case. The case is missing two finials on the bottom. The clock was made in the Black Forest of Germany.

I polished the pivots, and replaced one badly worn pivot (time second wheel front pivot). The wood movement plates have brass pivot bushings, 3 of them were worn badly enough to need replacing. A previous repairer had bent the warning lift improperly (there are plier marks all over it), it took over an hour to get it shaped properly again.

The front of the movement has an FF trademark on the front. Below are 3 photos, followed by a slideshow of many photos, followed by a YouTube video.

Repair job 4923

Antique German Quail and Cuckoo Clock

Bill — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:27:48 +0000

I recently repaired this clock. I overhauled the movement, rebuilt the bellows, and put the case body back together. My customer glued the carvings back together. The deer antlers are not shown in the photo. This clock was made around 1900.

The videos below show the following:

The action of the quail and cuckoo;
How to synchronize the quail and cuckoo when they are incorrect (usually caused by the clock running down). These antique cuckoo clocks run only 24 hours on a winding.
The movement.

Here is a slide show:

Repair job 4842.

Another 1950′s Regula 8 Day Cuckoo Clock Movement

Bill — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:24:26 +0000

I just overhauled another 8 day cuckoo clock from the 1950′s with a Regula movement. This one is interesting in that the back of the movement is labeled “Hubert Herr, Triberg” beneath the Regula logo. Later, Hebert Herr manufactured his own movements in competition with Regula.

This movement differs from the previous one in having the two cuckoo bellow lifters located in opposite positions. This points out that before disassembling a cuckoo clock movement, you should note the location of the hammer and the two bellow lifters.

The customer has the top carving, so I couldn’t illustrate it here. The case body is 13 inches tall, and the dial’s overall diameter is 3 3/4 inches.

One repair often needed on these clocks is to replace the clicks. Correct replacement clicks are available in “Chainwheel Repair Kits” available from suppliers including R & M Imports, Timesavers, and Mile Hi Clock Supplies. The last photo below shows the contents of the repair kit. For the movement being discussed here, the click is used, and the larger rivet is used if necessary (for this movement, it is okay to reuse the rivet if it came out cleanly. For clocks with mainsprings, new custom made rivets should always be used). The other parts are not needed (save them for possible future use.)

The weights weigh 1505 and 1460 grams. It doesn’t matter which weight goes on which side.

Job 4653

1950′s Regula Cuckoo Clock Movement

Bill — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:21:28 +0000

I just overhauled a 1950′s cuckoo clock with a Regula 8 day movement.This older movement is different from the modern one, so I am illustrating it here. This movement needed to have the pivots polished and bushings installed. The pivots were not too badly worn, but some appeared to not have been well polished when new.

The case is 18 1/4 inches tall including the top carving; and 15 1/4 inches tall without the top. The overall diameter of the dial is 4 1/4 inches.

The weights are labeled “1500″ and weigh 1545 and 1530 grams. It doesn’t matter which weight goes on which side.

A couple years ago I overhauled my own cuckoo clock with the same movement, that my uncle sent to my parents from Germany in the late 1950′s. It had been unreliable most of its life. The pinion of the time third wheel was very badly worn, so I installed a new pivot, and polished the remaining pivots. It now runs very well.

Job 4640

Antique Cuckoo clock

Admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:10:49 +0000

I recently overhauled this cuckoo clock. The movement was very dirty and someone had damaged the fan fly and enlarged its pivot holes to about 1/8 inch! The slideshow below shows the repair process.

I had to plug the enlarged pivot hole, use the depthing tool to establish the correct center distance, and drill a new hole. Also, the fan fly had been damaged and a brass strip needed to be attached so that the fly fit properly on the arbor.

Schatz 8 Day Cuckoo Clock

Bill — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:45:58 +0000

I just overhauled a Schatz 8 day cuckoo clock. The movement is model 50 (has a 50 in the circle on the back plate). The customer has the top piece, so I could not include in in the photo. The nicely made movement has some surprises!

The movement plates are very classy with the design of a bird worked into them,
Separate controls for door and bird – bird goes in and out with each cuckoo while the door stays open,
The cuckoo and time train are on the opposite sides of the movement, compared to the majority of cuckoo movements,
Very large teeth on the time first and second wheels.

The weights are 2 lb, 12 oz. and 2 lb, 14 oz.

My job no. 4492. This clock had probably seen years of use, as many of the pivots needed to have wear removed and be polished. I installed 14 bushings.

The circle on the back plate says:

JAHRESUHRENFABRIK
50
GERMANY

The rectangle says:

NO (0) JEWELS
UNADJUSTED

Jahresunherfabrik means “Year Clock Company”. This was the company’s name for many years, as they started out as a manufacturer of 400 day or “Anniversary” clocks. In the early 1950′s they became known as Aug. Schatz and Sohne.

The photo above was made before the movement cleaning, as the dirt in the engraving makes the lettering show up better!