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This beautiful Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock has a mahogany finish and two pillars on each side of the case. This clock has the 8-day movement with escapement in back, so it was made in 1901 or earlier. The case is 12 1/4 inches tall and 16 3/4 inches wide at the feet. The minute hand is 2 1/8 inches long.

Repair job 5861. I polished the pivots, installed 7 bushings, and tightened the clock rivets. The back escapement movement uses a strip recoil escapement requiring a small pendulum arc. The pendulum arc when running is much larger than the minimum arc (escape arc), so these clocks are very reliable even when slightly off-level. These movements have fairly thick mainsprings (around 0.018 inch) that are 11/16 inch wide and not the standard 3/4 inch wide. If a mainspring does need replacing (it is best to keep the original springs) it is important to not use a spring that is too strong.

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This example’s original mainsprings are the following sizes:

Time: 11/16 by 0.0187 inch

Strike: 11/16 by 0.0185 inch.

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I’ve always liked the appearance  of these green and black Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clocks, and this one is interesting in having the model name “Sussex” stenciled on the back. This clock has the 8-day movement with escapement in back, so it was made in 1901 or earlier. The case is 11 3/4 inches tall and 11 3/4 inches wide at the feet. The minute hand is 2 3/16 inches long.

Sold 3-3-02 E is written on the back of the clock, meaning that it was sold March 3, 1902.

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Repair job 5855. New time click rivet, polished the pivots, installed 9 bushings, true the escape wheel teeth. The back escapement movement uses a strip recoil escapement requiring a small pendulum arc. The pendulum arc when running is much larger than the minimum arc (escape arc), so these clocks are very reliable even when slightly off-level. These movements have fairly thick mainsprings (around 0.018 inch) that are 11/16 inch wide rather than the standard 3/4 inch wide. If a mainspring does need replacing (it is best to keep the original springs) it is important to not use a spring that is too strong.

This example’s original mainsprings are the following sizes:

Time: 11/16 by 0.0175 inch

Strike: 11/16 by 0.018 inch.

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This Seth Thomas tambour mantel clock is very plain, yet is a great example of an old clock of classic design that will be reliable for many years. It has the No. 89 movement, very reliable and efficient, and one of their best movements, in my opinion. The clock is 17 inches wide, 9 1/8 inches tall. The minute hand is 2 5/16 inches long. The dial is silver-plated brass with printed numerals. The heavy wire gong (often called Cathedral gong) gives a very rich tone.

Tran Duy Ly’s book “Seth Thomas Clocks and Movements, Third Edition, Volume 3″ shows this clock is called “Tambour 12″, 1922 version.

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Sold 7-26-12. Installed 11 bushings. It has the original mainsprings:

• Time mainspring: 3/4 by 0.0176 inches
• Strike mainspring: 3/4 by 0.0173 inches

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Here is an example of a 1940s Seth Thomas mantel clock movement. This is the movement that replaced the No. 89 that was popular for many years. This one has the date stamp 42 6 on the rear lower left leg of the movement. Some of the other examples of this movement I’ve seen have another code stamped on the lower right movement leg as well, see my earlier posts: Plymouth (by Seth Thomas 1940s mantel clock, 1940s 8-day Seth Thomas Time and Strike Clock Movement, Two Seth Thomas “Plymouth” Mantel Clocks, 1938 and 1945.

This type of movement runs very efficiently, and can use thinner mainsprings (if they need replacing). My earlier post, Plymouth (by Seth Thomas 1940s mantel clock, describes the mainsprings this movement needs.

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Repair job 5815. Polish pivots, install 12 bushings.

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This Ingraham “beehive” shaped mantel clock has an 8-day time and strike movement dated 3 14 (March 1914). The movements in these Ingraham mantel clocks run very efficiently thanks to their deadbeat escapement.

The case is 13 1/16 inches tall and 8 5/8 inches wide. The dial’s minute track is 4 3/8 inch in diameter, and the minute hand is 2 1/4 inches long.

Ingraham mantel clocks differ from other American mantel clocks in that the pendulum is in front of the movement, thus they provide a cutout in the bottom of the case for hanging the pendulum.

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Repair job 5827. Polished pivots, installed 13 bushings. The mainsprings are original 3/4 inch wide by 0.0175 inch thick. If you are replacing the mainspring in this movement, use 0.0165 inch or thinner springs.

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This cute little Seth Thomas mantel clock is 9 13/16 inches tall and 7 3/8 inches wide. It has a white enamel dial, and the minute hand is 1 3/4  long. It strikes the hour and half-hour.

The model B-48-J movement in this clock looks like a forerunner of the No. 120 movement in my earlier post. Superficially they look similar, but the gearing and escapement are different. Both movements have stationary barrels to contain the mainsprings. This movement has the barrels mounted to the back plate, but the 120 has them mounted to a removable lower front plate. This means that one can replace the mainsprings on the No. 120 movement without separating the  plates. This movement (B-48-J), however, requires disassembly to replace a mainspring.

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Repair job 5737. A previous repair shop had installed bushings that were way too tall (3 times the required height). I polished the pivots and installed proper bushings. I also straightened bent teeth on the canon pinion, reduced the hand-set tension (to make the minute hand easy enough to turn) and replaced one missing pinion wire (or trundle).

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This tambour mantel clock uses the Seth Thomas No. 120 movement, a round 8-day time and strike movement introduced in the 1920s. This movement is smaller than the more common No. 89 movement.

The clock is 20 1/8 inches wide and 8 3/4 inches tall. and has a dial of silvered brass with engraved numerals. The minute hand is 4 1/4 inches long.

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Repair job 5725. A previous repair shop had installed bushings with unusually large outside diameter, making installing new bushings more difficult than normal. I polished the pivots after disassembling the movement, then replaced the worn bushings.

The No. 120 movement is made like a No. 124 movement but with strike only (not Westminster chime). The escapement, mainsprings and some of the gears are the same.

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This Seth Thomas electric mantel clock plays Westminster chimes each quarter-hour, and strikes the hour. It has 4 chime rods mounted to a case iron base. This clock uses the General Time M4 motor, which was made from 1948 through the early 1960s.

The date code 11 49 is on the motor and 4913 is on the label (13th lunar month of 1949?).

The case is 24 inches wide and 8 5/8 inches tall. The minute hand is 2 3/8 inches long.

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Repair job 5690. This clock had run so long without service that almost half of the first chime gear arbor was worn away by the rear pivot hole. Otherwise, it needed lots of pivot polishing, and 10 bushings. In this movement, the motor winds the mainsprings that drive the chime and strike.

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