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Over the past several months I’ve been so busy repairing clocks and designing my Westclox history database, that I haven’t written in my blog! Here is a post about a New Haven walnut kitchen clock, and I shall post some more clocks this week.

This New Haven walnut cased “kitchen” or shelf clock from the 1880s has a fanciful case top and a multicolor stenciled glass in the door. The dial is missing some paint, but what is present is original.

The movement is 8 day time and strike. A characteristic of this movement is that the  time mainspring is 3/4 inches wide, but the strike mainspring is only 5/8  inches wide. This movement, like many New Havens, has a zinc spacer between the mainspring and the mainwheel.

The time mainspring was stronger than necessary, 0.0177 inches thick. I replaced it with a mainspring 3/4 x 0.016 x 120 inches long, Timesavers #15959.

The original strike mainspring of 5/8 x 0.018 inches was retained in the clock.

The pivots and holes had a lot of wear. I polished the pivots and installed 16 bushings.

Here are more photos.

Repair job 5301.

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I repaired this New Haven long drop octagon clock. Some of the pinions had worn wires, so I replaced the wires in one pinion and reversed the wires in three. I polished the pivots and installed 13 bushings.

The mainsprings appear to be original (they match in color and style and look old).

Time mainspring: 3/4 inch wide by 0.0172 inch thick. This spring provides sufficient power, as the escapement motion is excellent.

Strike mainspring: 3/4 inch wide by 0.0142 inches thick. This spring is very thin, yet the striking speed is fine.

I retained both original mainsprings in this clock. They were in good condition, operated smoothly, and provided enough operating power, so there was no reason to change them. A good old mainspring is no more likely to break than a new one. (Some repair shops install new mainsprings in every clock they repair, I disagree with this practice.)

The case is 33 inches tall, and the minute track diameter is 11 inches.

Repair job 4955.

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I recently overhauled this movement belonging to a New Haven wall clock.

Time mainspring: The original time mainspring was broken, and measured 3/4 inch wide by 0.018 inch thick. The replacement is 3/4 by 0.0165 by 96 inches, Merritt’s P-1956.

Strike mainspring: The movement came into the shop with a 3/4 by 0.0142 inch mainspring! It may have been original, but it had a jerky action after cleaning and lubrication. The replacement spring is 3/4 x 0.0155 inch thick (Merritt’s P-1496 in the orange and red box).

The video below shows the escapement action when the time mainspring is run down 7 1/2 days and then fully wound. The motion is sufficient but not excessive.

Repair job 4926.

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I just finished a New Haven oak kitchen clock (my job no. 4333). The movement has 4 pillars and the dimensions are 4-9/16 x 3-1/4. The time mainspring is held by a separate short pillar attached to back plate. This movement has thin springs for time and strike. The two springs are both old but they are different, so I don’t know which one (if any) is original. The spring thicknesses are:

Time: 0.0165 inch

Strike: 0.0160 inch

This clock has nice old thin springs, and the pendulum motion is good, and so is the striking speed.

For future reference, some of the pivot diameters are:

T5F: 1.2 mm
T4F: 1.2 mm
T3F: 1.2 mm
T2F: 1.55 mm

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