Jump to content

Identification please.


Blacklab

Recommended Posts

This has just been passed to me for restoration:

20160522_232218r.jpg

Quite acceptable on the outside, strikes but does not run, pendulum missing (may turn up soon), movement very dirty & not signed:

20160530_101706r.jpg20160530_101746r.jpg20160530_101756r.jpg20160530_101812r.jpg20160530_101722r.jpg

Shows serial number 169240 with 18 above on the back plate, 20 on the front plate. Apart from the grime everything seems to be in good order. Any information about the movement (age, maker etc.) would be gratefully received. Also pendulum info would be useful (if the original turns out to have disappeared for good).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something tells me this is German, I don't know it's just a gut felling. If it isn't German then it would be English.

The case is an architectural form with what looks like a silvered dial with roman numerals with spade style blued hands and what looks to be a mahogany or mahogany type case going by the one and only case picture.  

The movement is a 8 day Westminster chime with half hour and hour strike and spring driven. It has a regulator hand blued on the dial above the 12. It strikes on gongs. It looks like an anchor escapement.

Here is a picture of what I think the pendulum should look like. You are lucky to have the original suspension spring as this can be used as a guide to the length of the pendulum rod, but the weight you can only guess, It would be quite heavy. The numbers you have quoted to me doesn't help me in any way sorry.         

76.391-8-300.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info OH. Likewise I think its German & may have had a makers name plate screwed above the serial number:

20160530_173804r.jpg

I would suspect that this may have been removed after WW1 due to the anti German attitude at the time, ultimately causing German clocks & other imported goods being labelled 'Foreign'. A quick search for pictures of German bracket clock movements shows similar clocks & movements with missing name plates.

The movement is now stripped awaiting cleaning & I did manage to get it running beforehand. Initial inspection shows no undue wear to the pivots or bushes & no broken or missing parts, so (hopefully) it should be a simple clean & oil. Undecided at the moment whether to re-silver the dial:

20160530_180034r.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would leave the dial to me its still in good condition. I would go along with that sort of period about the early 1920's.

Here is a good one for you I'm very much into my family tree and on my late Mothers side I found a Bismarck Hambling born 1896, I bet he was popular in the times of WW 1.:D

 

Edited by oldhippy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

After a rather long pause I finally got round to putting it all back together again. I do respect your advice O.H. but in the end I did re silver the dial & frame:

20160602_213454r.jpg

The movement was dipped in Priory clock cleaner & polished as reqd. Reassembly went without any major incident:

P1030318 r.jpgP1030319r.jpgP1030321r.jpgP1030323r.jpg

Hands cleaned & re blued, new leather pads fitted to strikers, case cleaned with Priory polish reviver.

Before & after:

20160522_231553r.jpg20170121_202225r.jpg20160522_231229r.jpg20170121_202526 r.jpg

Apart from cleaning off the crud on the gongs these were left as is, along with the side & back fabric & mesh grills. Going like a train, gongs & bongs all happy. All in all an enjoyable one, but I am still waiting for the pendulum (which has been found apparently) & none the wiser to identification. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Hi guys I think that old hippy is correct, it opens the gates for china to manufacture aftermarket spare parts. considering that they already do work on behalf of the Swiss I guess this decision gives the a little more legitimacy to tool up and I am sure they will take advantage of the situation either with or without the blessing of the Swiss watch industry  Having read about the protectionist machinations of the Swiss in the history of Europe they were the only ones to get fat at everybody else’s expense. I think the outcome could have been guessed at but ,  fair play to Cousins UK for standing up to them.  Now the question,  will everybody boycott Swiss watches and Swatch, no way they will still fill their coffers.  Me I stick with the Japanese once renowned for cheap shitty watches who came good through industrial effort and don’t for get the Russians that most dismiss as low grade crap. Wouldn’t buy a swatch product ever how about you all.? a
    • Hold the crown when in winding position, move the click away from the crown wheel, and then while holding the crown let it slowly unwind. I recollect that you must remove the automatic device bridge first, but maybe I'm wrong. You can first try without removing the automatic device bridge.
    • nevenbekriev- You nailed it with your description of me and my reaction when the clock started ticking again. I am a newbie.  I love the sound and idea of mechanical clocks but the idea of owning one and trying to keep them running has never appealed to me. My wife bought this one and an antique German wall clock.  When I looked into having someone repair them for me, the universal response was "it's really expensive to work on them, you should just replace the movement". So, I had nothing to lose, I started researching them and opened them up. The wife is happy because she hears the sound of the clocks again. But I have gone down the "accuracy" rabbit hole. In the vertical position, the balance wheel was not floating. It was sitting on the bottom of the frame. I adjusted the lower spring collet and got it floating. It easily passed the 270 degree 3 to 5 minute oscillation test. It took 8 minutes for the wheel to completely stop moving.  I put it the unit back in the movement and checked the safety pin. It does not touch the safety roller anywhere in +/-270 degrees rotation from neutral position. But the amplitude of the rotation with the spring fully wound is weak based on what you are saying. It rotates +/-90 degrees from the neutral position.  No, I did not take the movement completely apart.  That seemed way outside my skill set at the time. There is a reason I became an electrical engineer and not a mechanical engineer. I am much more comfortable with moving electrons than tiny moving metal parts. Will I do it in the long run? Anything can happen. I don't seem to be able to let it go.
    • Isn't that the same guy who told Zelenskyy to escalate the war with Russia/Putin when they already had a peace deal? 2 years later and we have half a million young Ukranian boys dead. He doesn't seem very clever...
×
×
  • Create New...