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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.

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:

1. The action of the quail and cuckoo;
2. 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.
3. The movement.

Here is a slide show:

Repair job 4842.

I recently repaired this wall clock. The case is about 42 inches tall. The rear of the movement has the crossed arrows symbol of the Hamburg-American Clock Company, Germany. The dial is metal and porcelain.

The movement needed most of the pivots polished, 14 bushings installed, and the entrance pallet smoothed and polished.

The strike train is unusual in having 6 gears.

This movement does not have the best escapement design. The escape arc is quite large, with a small amount of supplementary arc or overswing. Thus, this clock must be carefully leveled (by ear) when setting it up.

Repair job 4853.

I just completed repair of this Schatz standard size 400 day clock. Besides cleaning the movement (including the mainspring) and replacing the suspension spring, I polished 4 pivots.

The movies below show the escapement closeup, and the entire clock operating.

The slideshow below shows the front and rear of the clock.

Backplate like No. 1279 but also has a date of 9-52 (September 1952)

Suspension unit 8, 0.004 inch thick suspension spring.

Job 4835

In 1954, Schatz introduced their 1000 Day Clock. The 1000 day clock is based on Schatz’s miniature 400 day clock movement (see Why 400 Day Clocks Run So Long). A larger mainspring, with about 2.5 times the amount of energy storage, is used, but the gears and escapement are similar. The pendulum makes 10 rotations per minute.

Here are videos of the 1000 day clock in operation, and a closeup view of the escapement:

Here are some photos of the 1000 day clock:

This clock is dated 8-57 (August 1957) on the movement and is part of my clock collection.

The 1000 day clock uses a 0.0024 inch thick Horolovar suspension spring, or complete suspension unit number 10B. See this post for information on ordering suspension springs or units.