Waterbury One-Day Walnut Cased Shelf Clock, ca. 1885.

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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