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 .
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.
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
