Napoleon Hat

[RogerH]

Hi all, I acquired a lovely old “Napoleon Hat” clock at the weekend. Complete but not working. I suspect the previous owners smoked as it’s all blackened and sticky. So I carried out a complete strip down and clean, the mech looks to be of good quality and luckily all bushes and pins were in good order. I’ve reassembled and the time train is working nicely. The Chime side however is definitely off. It’s a Westminster chime so effectively two trains that work but not when they should do! The clock was made by Camerer and Cuss, who I can find on the web but I have no knowledge of the mech. All there is on the plate is one stamp and no name. can anyone help identify it? or at least point the way to sorting out the timing of the chimes.

[watchweasol]

Going by the plate marking its made by Urgos  european manufacture  Germany,  nice old clock have the same miovement in a grandaughter clock.

[watchweasol]

Attached is the logo.

[RogerH]

Brilliant, many thanks watchweasol.

[RogerH]

So, following some extensive research - and by that I mean Google - I've managed to find hardly anything on the Urgos Mech! I think Watchweasol is correct though as the pictures I have seen to match up. Any further info would be much appreciated. Meanwhile, however, I've studied the movement and have managed to adjust the timing so it's now running beautifully. I'm still interested to learn more but I'll post a pic on the finished clock once it's had a good test.

[oldhippy]

I don't know how I came to miss this one.

It is a good quality movement. Being able to remove the barrels individually is a sign of quality. Its pre war around 1930 as the logo on the back plate was the last one they used.  After the war they moved to America and I think traded under a different name.  

I have found out that the number 15 gives you the length in cms of the pendulum.

[RogerH]

Thanks OH. The more movements I work on the more I get a feel for the quality ones. This definitely feels like it's well made and you're right about the barrels, it made life a lot easier!

[RogerH]

One last question. I've had quite a lot of fun stripping and rebuilding this one, it runs nicely and chimes as it should however, I put it in "silent" mode the other night using the lever and when I put it back to chime in the morning it was 15mins out of sync. With a lot of fiddling and stopping the clock then advancing the chime I've managed to get it back in time but surely this isn't right? there must be a proper way of resetting the chimes to be in the right order after using the silent mode?

[oldhippy]

Normally when you set it to silent them back to chime/strike it will auto put itself right in around an hour. 

[RogerH]

Hi OH, that's what I thought. The lift arm for the hour chime is longer than the others as the hour chime needs a longer lift so in theory the other chimes would just bypass the hour strike and it wouldn't work until it get's back round to the longer lever......it's not easy to explain but I think I understand and you've just helped confirm my suspicions, at least I'm not doing anything wrong! The soak test continues.

[oldhippy]

You are correct. 

[Rodgo]

1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

Normally when you set it to silent them back to chime/strike it will auto put itself right in around an hour. 

That's it the snail on the canon pinion sets your time. When the rack falls it should be half way along each cam marking on the snail. I started in pocket watches 25 years ago and did a lot of work on clocks under a clockmaker.. but I am turning around again. Give me a hoy if you need clock help.. Rodgo.

[RogerH]

Aaarrrgh! so, the unit works fine until I put it into the case and then it will randomly not chime. It may just be something is rubbing or catching but I can't see what. There are only single original holes which the brackets line up to so it's sitting in the right place. I may try some small washers to lift the movement off to give it more room but otherwise I'm at a loss as to why it doesn't like sitting in the case that it's been sat in for years!

To add to my frustration I think the case may have Woodworm! does anyone have thoughts on how best to deal with it? There are only a couple of holes that may be old but it's certainly something I feel needs attention.

[watchweasol]

Hi there are many effective wood worm treatments available from DIY and hardware stores which are injected in to the holes or brush on. As to why the clock refuses to go in the case, check all the plate screws are tight or the pins are tight which may be pulling the plates when screwed into the case, also check the dial clearance when in the case and there is nothing rubbing or binding.

[oldhippy]

Make sure the silent/chime set leaver is free and in the correct position and free in its slot in the dial. I have come across this problem before, I have found the lever if slightly bent the slot is not big enough and it leaves the lever in the wrong position causing the chime at times not to work. 

Woodworm, tap the case to see if any wood crumbs come out, if yes then treat it, if no they are dead, you might just want to fill in the holes.