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This Waterbury tambour mantel clock was made around 1920. The movement plates are steel that have been given a thin brass plating. Brass bushings were inserted in the plates so that the pivots (steel gear shafts) can turn in brass holes as usual (steel on steel would cause severe wear).

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This clock strikes the hours and half-hours on a heavy coil gong. The case is 17 1/8 inches wide and 9 3/4 inches tall. The dial’s minute track is 4 3/8  inch diameter, and the minute hand is 2 1/4 inches from center to tip. The video below shows the clock striking:

When the clock arrived in my shop, the finish had been stripped from the case. I stained it with brown mahogany gel stain, and finished it with spray semi-gloss Deft lacquer.

This movement is a good example of an American clock movement with weak mainsprings. The springs are open (no barrel), 3/4 inch wide, 0.014 inch thick, and about 8 feet long. Many American movements have stronger springs (0.0165 – 0.018 inch thick). A 0.018 inch thick mainspring provides over twice the force of a 0.014 inch thick spring (because the force is proportional to the thickness cubed).

This movement has a strip deadbeat escapement with a very small escape arc (the minimum swing needed for the clock to tick). The running arc is over 3 times the escape arc, showing that the thin springs provide plenty of power for this movement. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find weak enough springs if replacements are necessary. Springs that are too strong will cause wear. The video below shows a closeup of the escapement, and shows the amount of pendulum swing, starting from the minimum:

Repair job 5675.

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I recently lubricated this clock, and I thought it was pretty enough that I should illustrate it. The dial is enamel with the numerals fired into it (like on antique pocket watches). It has a very popular type of movement that is used in many of Waterbury’s mantel and shelf clocks.

Notice the copper color painted pendulum bob – this is an original part and is commonly used on Waterbury mantel clocks.

The case is 20 1/8 inches wide and 11 1/4 inches tall. The dial has a 4 1/4 inch minute track. The length of the minute hand (center to tip) is 2 3/16 inches. It has a convex glass lens. The case has been refinished.

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Repair job 5526.

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This Waterbury oak cased shelf (kitchen) clock was made around 1903 and is called “Amherst”. It is 21 3/4 inches tall (a small piece is is missing at the top, it should be 22 inches tall) and 15 inches wide. The hands are original Waterbury blackened brass Maltese style. The minute hand is 2 9/16 inches long from center to tip. The paper dial of this clock is original but worn.

The movement plates are 5 inches tall and 3 7/16 inches wide, and marked 5 3/8 (referring to the length of the pendulum). This movement is designed to use thin loop end mainsprings 3/4 inch wide. When the clock came into the shop, it had a strike mainspring 0.0142 inch thick, and a time mainspring 0 .0172 inch thick. The thicker time mainspring has caused significant wear to the time mainwheel teeth (the teeth on the time mainwheel are 20 % worn, which the strike mainwheel teeth are only 5% worn). The springs were slightly rusty, and I replaced them with Merritt’s Antiques part number P-1496 in the red and yellow package. I selected a spring 0.0156 inch thick for the striking, and 0.0158 inch thick for the time. The pendulum motion is excellent and the striking speed could actually be slower and still be reliable.

This was one of the most badly worn clock movements I have seen! It was very dirty when received. All of the pinion wires needed replacing. The pinion wires of the fan fly were over half way worn through! The movement must have been sprayed with something to keep it going without being cleaned for many years, and the dust adhering to the gear teeth acted as an abrasive, causing the wear to the pinions). All of the pivots needed polishing, and I installed 12 bushings. The pallets had deep wear grooves which I polished out.

The movement plates are steel (with brass plating for decoration), and brass bushings (they were made like this instead of solid brass for a few years – Gilbert also made some like this, so did Ingraham but  without the brass bushings!).

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Repair job 5487.

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This type of clock is ofter called a “store regulator” by collectors. This one’s model name is “Crane”. It has an 8 day time and strike movement. The case is 37 inches tall and 16 1/8 inches wide. The dial minute track is 11 inches in diameter.

The movement has steel plates that are brass plated, with brass bushings.

When the clock came in for repair, it had the original strike mainspring of 3/4 by 0.0135 inch (and roughly 96 inches long). It was broken. The time mainspring was an old replacement that was too strong: 3/4 by 0.0175 inch thick. It was causing wear to the time mainwheel teeth.

I replaced both mainsprings with new springs that are loop end, 3/4 inch wide, 0.0145 inch thick, and 96 inches long. The springs are from Empire Clock Inc., part number 280-19-009.

The escapement is an American “strip” deadbeat escapement. There is actually some recoil, some due to the design, and some due to wear on the faces of the escape wheel teeth. Here is a video of the escapement motion:

Here are some photos:

See Picasa web album.

Repair job 5139.

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This walnut cased “kitchen” or shelf clock was made by the Waterbury Clock Co., Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. The movement has patent date September 22, 1874. It strikes the hours on a coil gong. The case is 17 inches tall and , and 10 inches wide at the widest part of the base. The paper dial has a 4 inch minute track diameter, has a nice (larger than usual) Waterbury logo, and says “Waterbury Clock Co.” at the bottom. The pendulum has the patent date December 11, 1883.

Waterbury took the effort to add decorative touches by nickel plating the keyhole grommets, dial pan rim and trim ring, hand washer, pendulum, and gong base cover. The nickel goes well with the bluish-white pattern printed on the glass. This is a great looking all-original clock. The dial shows staining around the winding holes, but it is in excellent condition for its age. Note: don’t polish the nickel plated parts – the nickel is easily polished off – just clean for a short time in your regular clock cleaning solution to remove dirt. (Carefully use Formula 409 cleaner on a Q-tip for the rim of the dial pan if it is dirty. Then rinse off the 409 using water on Q-tips.)

Mainsprings:

The original mainsprings measure as follows:

Time: 5/16 inch wide x 0.171 inch thick

Strike: 5/16 inch wide x 0.0167 inch thick.

The mainsprings didn’t open out very far when unwound (see photo), but they are plenty powerful enough to operate this one-day clock. The time mainspring had a crack, and was replaced with a new spring 5/16 inch wide x  0.015 inch thick x 42 inches long. The replacement spring is thinner than the original (which should almost always be the case with American antique clocks) and provides plenty of power to operate the clock. It runs at least 2 days on one winding.

This is a great little clock! One-day clocks are overlooked by many collectors. I like this clock for its lively American coil gong sound (see first video below), attractive walnut case, nice original dial (and everything else). The movement is well-made, beautiful (but hidden behind the dial) and has a nice loud tick tock!

Here is a video of the strip recoil escapement:

Repair job 5295.

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I recently overhauled this Waterbury walnut cased shelf clock made around the 1880s or 1890s.This clock has a nice original painted dial. The hour hand is the original solid spade hand. The minute hand has been replaced.

This clock movement is known for running on thinner than average mainsprings. Even with the weaker springs, there was major wear to the pinion wires (some were cut 1/3 of the way through)! I replaced the wires in 4 of the pinions. On the other four pinions, I reversed the wires to bring an unworn surface into operation. The pinion wear was caused by 2 factors:

• The gears are quite narrow, concentrating the force in a small area;
• The clock may have been spray oiled. When oil is on the gear teeth, dust sticks to the teeth and becomes embedded, and acts as an abrasive, cutting away the harder steel pinion material.

The pivots and pivot holes had a typical amount of wear. I polished the pivots and installed 12 bushings.

A weakness of this and some other Waterbury movements are the flat steel clicksprings on the mainwheels. They commonly break. On this clock they were still intact, but the one on the time side looked about to break. I replaced both of them with round steel wire clicksprings. See the photos below.

This movement runs well with thin mainsprings. Both springs in this clock are original:

• Time mainspring: 3/4 inch wide by 0.0155 inch thick;
• Strike mainspring: 3/4 inch wide by 0.0165 inch thick.

Here is a movie of the movement and the clock striking:

Here is a movie of the escapement motion with the clock fully wound and run down 9 days:

Repair job 4879. The mainsprings are original, are not too strong, and operate smoothly, so I kept them in the clock.

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American antique one day spring driven clocks often have mainsprings much stronger than necessary. This can cause severe wear to the mainwheel teeth. Shown here is a Waterbury walnut case kitchen or shelf clock, ca. 1880. The movement has a patent date of September 22, 1874.

The movement has the original strike mainspring of 1/4 inch wide by 0.019 inches thick. Yes, this spring is very thick, but it is not very “springy” and does not provide much force, so there is NO wear on the mainwheel teeth.

The time spring was a replacement of 1/4 inch wide by 0.0157 inch thick. There is about 30% wear to the time mainwheel teeth. I replaced it with a mainspring 5/16 inch wide by .0125 inch thick by 45 inches long (actual specifications: 8 mm x 0.33 mm x 1150 mm). This spring provides plenty of power, enough for the movement to run about 48 hours on a winding. This spring is part no. PM-CS510 from The PM Company. They have a great online and printed catalog, including hard to find parts for Swiss travel clocks.

My job 4365

The movement is designed to accommodate 5/16 inch wide mainsprings.

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