Huber circa 1897

I bought this clock from a auction house a few years back now. It was a complete example of this clock as it had the early version of the pendulum which is attached by a pin rather than the hook method seen on later clocks.
  It did not run for long but was only due to dried oil in the pivot hole sinks. What made it look really bad was the fact that the clock had been lacquered from new which most had now come off leaving it a jigsaw of bright and dull patches of brass all over the clock.
 After stripping it down removing the old lacquer and cleaning, it was reassembled with a  new mainspring and suspension spring and a new piece of felt on the base. I decided  not  to lacquer it but to polish it with a couple of coats of micro crystalline wax.

Information.

• Sold by 'F. Zacher & Company' Berlin.
• Pendulum weight 410grams.
• Pendulum Diameter 85mm
• Dial diameter 60mm enamelled .

Jahresuhrenfabrik 1913.

  I found this clock at a fair unwanted due to it being dropped, resulting in the socle being damaged at the rear. An earlier attempt had been made to push the dent out with little success leaving smaller undulations in the brass. It could be said to just replace it with a good secondhand one but this one was a little bit special being as it was engraved and part of the clocks history, which would otherwise have been lost forever by replacing it.
  Setting to work i drilled a small hole in the pressed in steel insert, screwed in a self tapping screw and pulled the insert out so as i could now get to both sides of the brass to work on it by gently pulling the socle back into shape using steel dollys of the right form. Finishing  off with varying grades of wet and dry and finally a cutting compound. I was pleased with the end result with only a very tiny tell tale sign of what had been done if scrutinised.
 The rest of the the clock was a straight forward strip down and rebuild with a new mainspring and suspension. 



Information

• Pendulum weight 370 grams.
• Pendulum stamped with D.R.G.M.  403658
• Enamelled dial of 65mm diameter.
• Serial number 118545.

Thanks for looking.

Jahresuhrenfabrik Model No 197 circa 1910

  This clock is shown in the Jahres-uhr catalogue as model number 197, stating it is of small size suitable for writing tables. The clock is original and complete with matching serial numbers on the movement and pendulum.
  As can be seen in the top left image teeth were torn off the mainspring barrel at  some time as the mainspring let go releasing all of its energy in one go.
  When the movement was stripped down and examined Lady luck was on my side  with no other damage, not even any bending  of the trains wheels or arbors. On opening the barrel the tail of the mainspring had broken off, leading to scoring of the inside as  the spring thrashed around violently as it unwound.
  After being  in the ultrasonic cleaner the movement was assembled dry with a new mainspring,  I tested it with the anchor removed to make sure non of the wheels were sticking and that it ran down from a couple of clicks on the mainspring smoothly with no binding but a clean linear motion until completely unwound.
   With the anchor back in, the rest of the clock was assembled, set up and put in beat with a new suspension spring fitted.

Information.

• Height 240mm,Width 150mm.
• Pendulum diameter, 63mm.
• pendulum weight, 215 grams
• dial diameter, 65mm.
• Weight, 1372 grams.

Thanks for looking

Kienzle circa 1908

  I bought this clock again as a non runner but complete and with its original thick glass  shade. The seller said the mainspring wound up but could not get it to run at all with no movement of the escape wheel when the anchor pin was manually moved from side to side, so let me have it at a very good price for spare parts.
  Now I never like to see a clock that is complete but just won't run used as a parts clock as that would be another one of these beautiful examples lost, so after letting the tension down from the mainspring and removing the anchor it was plain to see that years of hardened oil deposits had robbed any power from the mainspring reaching the escape wheel.
  After a complete strip down clean and examination of the wheels, pivots, pinions and pivot holes no perceivable wear or damage was evident. So with a new Horolovar mainspring the movement was reassembled and tested with the anchor left out at this point. With two clicks of the winding key the movement burst into life with a smooth linear motion of the train and motion work gently coming to rest as the mainspring ran down.
  It even has its original bottom block and fork, (the same as Wurth ) so with a new suspension and setting up, it now runs as it was designed too keeping very good time.

Information.

• 4 inch celluloid dial
• pendulum weight 270grams with steel inserts
• serial number 159344
• Thanks for looking.

 
 

Jahresuhrenfabrik Model No.228 Art Nouveau circa 1908

 I acquired this clock as can be seen in the images in a condition that left the movement glued solid with thick sticky dried oil almost tar like in appearence. The best thing about it was it was a complete clock with matching serial numbers on the movement and pendulum. It had a broken mainspring and some of the teeth on the barrel were bent and damaged where the mainspring had let go at some time in the past. 

  After stripping it down, cleaning and repairing, fitting a new Horolovar mainspring and suspension spring the clock came back to life once more. With a little bit of patience and setting up it once again looks great and  keeps very good time. 

 Known Information.

 

• 4" enamelled dial.
• Pendulum diameter 3.25" or 84mm.
• Pendulum weight 425grams.
• Serial number 51497.

Thanks for looking.

Wilhelm Wurth

   This clock was from a house clearance and was going to be discarded and thrown away in a skip with the rest of the rubbish. It was not working and in the past it had had iron washers and thrippenny bits glued to the pendulum to crudely slow the clock down. Hence the bottom pendulum cover was not present. Apart from this the complete suspension, fork and blocks were missing and needed to be replaced. It then needed years of neglect, dirt and rust removing to bring it back to life. 

 Known Information.

• Wilhelm Wurth circa 1906.
• Paper and Celluloid dial.
• Serial number 4839.
• D.R.G.M. stamped on dial backplate.
• Removable anchor bridge.
• D.R.P. 144687.
• New top block, bottom block and fork fitted.
• New Horolovar mainspring and suspension spring fitted. 

 Thank you for looking.

Introduction & Jahresuhrenfabrik Circa 1898 Torsion Clock

 On this blog I will be showing images of some of my clocks with descriptions such as make, age, faults found and general information on the repairs.

 There will be a selection of my pre WW1 Torsion clocks I have collected over the past 15 years here. I have been fascinated by these clocks for many years before I started collecting them. 

 All of the clocks shown here were non- working, ie broken wheels, mainsprings and parts missing. Some had been badly repaired previously rendering them useless as a working timepiece.

 So the challenge for myself was to bring these beautiful well made works of yesteryear back to life to be enjoyed once more.

 All mainsprings and torsion springs were replaced as a matter of course with new Horolovar units, all other parts needed were either sourced from suppliers or were made by myself to as original design and materials as possible.

Hope you enjoy the clocks and thanks for looking....

 Jahresuhrenfabrik circa 1898

This was a complete clock when I acquired it but was in a very poor condition. The mainspring had broken and loosened the spring hook in the barrel, bending a couple of teeth on the first wheel. To this the escape wheel teeth were not all the same length rendering it inoperable. 

Known Information

• Manufactured circa 1898
• Only markings are the number 51 on both inner movement plates, inside the mainspring barrel and motion works.
• No click spring hole.
• Pendulum diameter 90mm
• Pendulum weight 400 grams. 

  Thank you for reading, the next post will be on a Wilheim Wurth clock.