Mrs

[LouDan]

We bought a Hermle mantel clock in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago, with a 340/020 movement.

It all works beautifully, except, it's not keeping time. It's running slow.

We've looked online at all possibilities of how to speed up the clock, but all info seems to point to a regulating spindle, which this model doesn't seem to have.

Do any of you clock wizards have any idea how we can sort this problem, before we take it somewhere in the New Year to try and get it fixed.

Thanks so much.

[clockboy]

Welcome to the forum . You really need to post a picture or two for us to help. Enjoy the forum.

[LouDan]

2 hours ago, clockboy said:

Welcome to the forum . You really need to post a picture or two for us to help. Enjoy the forum.

Thank you for the welcome. I will attempt to upload a pic.

 

 

We have tried adjusting the screws at the plus + and minus -, but nothing has changed over a couple of days.

As there's no regulating spindle, we are at a loss as to where to go from here.

Any help much appreciated. 

[watchweasol]

Hi  welcome to the forum.  The clock you have is an eight day westminster chime which employs a floating balance assembly.  I may be that the clock requires a srvice(cleanand oil) which included the balance assembly. The balance spring floats on a helical spring centered of a wire or maybe two wires under tension . Any dirt congealed oil and the like in the tube will have an adverse effect on the timing. Regulating the balance is easy enough if you know what you are doing.  What you describe would point me to the fact that its the clock its self that needs a service and the mainsprings/train checking out for freedom, again any dirty or worn pivot holes, dry and dirty oil will again cause problems.

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

There is normally a reason why a clock movement is not keeping good time. Here are the main ones. the movement is dirty, lack of oil, wear in the pivot holes, problems with the springs. I'm enclosing a link that will help you to understand the floating balance of a Hermle clock, be very careful when it comes to altering the balance.

https://theindex.nawcc.org/Articles/Murray-hermle.pdf

 

[LouDan]

51 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hi  welcome to the forum.  The clock you have is an eight day westminster chime which employs a floating balance assembly.  I may be that the clock requires a srvice(cleanand oil) which included the balance assembly. The balance spring floats on a helical spring centered of a wire or maybe two wires under tension . Any dirt congealed oil and the like in the tube will have an adverse effect on the timing. Regulating the balance is easy enough if you know what you are doing.  What you describe would point me to the fact that its the clock its self that needs a service and the mainsprings/train checking out for freedom, again any dirty or worn pivot holes, dry and dirty oil will again cause problems.

Thank you for your reply. We were thinking we may need to take it somewhere for a service!!! Given that neither of us have a clue as to how to possibly solve it, and the only person we know with any knowledge, only has a limited amount of knowledge, then we may have to take it for service in the New Year.

 

51 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

There is normally a reason why a clock movement is not keeping good time. Here are the main ones. the movement is dirty, lack of oil, wear in the pivot holes, problems with the springs. I'm enclosing a link that will help you to understand the floating balance of a Hermle clock, be very careful when it comes to altering the balance.

https://theindex.nawcc.org/Articles/Murray-hermle.pdf

 

Thank you for your reply, and the link you posted too. Goodness, the adjustment looks a bit complicated and we would hate to mess with something and break it, or make things worse, so maybe taking the clock for a service is the route we will take. Once again, thank you.

[watchweasol]

Hi   have attached two pages from the Hermle manual regarding the 340/020 to give you some idea of the complexity regarding regulation etc

[LouDan]

19 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi   have attached two pages from the Hermle manual regarding the 340/020 to give you some idea of the complexity regarding regulation etc

Thank you for attaching those two pages from the manual. We think we'll give it a miss. Would hate to do something drastic and alter something that can't be fixed!

Thank you for your help.

 

18 hours ago, oldhippy said:

That is the best thing to do. Take it to a clock repairer, make sure it is repaired on the premises, a lot of repairers farm the repairs out or they send them away and ask for an estimate. Clock repairs can be expensive. 

Thank you so much. We do know of a little local business, that does watch and clock repairs onsite, so we will reach out to them. We just wanted to check whether the problem was easily fixable ourselves, but it appears we would be better letting the experts tackle it. Once again, thank you so much for your replies and help. 

[oldhippy]

That is the best thing to do. Take it to a clock repairer, make sure it is repaired on the premises, a lot of repairers farm the repairs out or they send them away and ask for an estimate. Clock repairs can be expensive.