I recently did a repair on this Seth Thomas movement. Its the best looking one Ive come accross and it opens up a few questions about what progress was made over 100 years or so. Firstly Ill itemise what I like about the ST Movement…

• Has big cogs so they dont need to be cut as accurately and wear more efficiently.
• Uses a lyre arrangement for the top and bottom plates to save materials and improve access for assembly and maintenance
• Has loop end springs so that you dont need a spring barrel complicating things
• Has a simple accessible escapement mechanism front mounted so you can see it and get to it if required
• A fair amount of it is made by hand e.g. the levers controlling the chime sequence. Adjustments are manual and dont involve fixings – you just bend wires.
• The escapement cog is held in place with a bent bracket – hilarious, its supposed to be an area where things are particularly accurate but the USA seemed to have ignored this and its fine.
• Looks fantastic.

Ok all this is typical of an Amercan movement from Walsh or Ansonia or Thomas around 1850. I think this one is a little later at 1875 but lets say 100 years go by.

So lets compare this to the Perivale style movement of 1950. Its a very typical one of the period and Ive selected one with exactly the same chime features.

• Its machine made for the most part
• It uses probably the same amount of material
• The cogs are smaller and so wear out of tollerance more quickly than the ST clock
• The smaller cogs are particularly sensitive to dust and dirt. The forces at the end of the drive chain are very weak so a build up of obstacles such as pollen and airborne particles can stop the clock.
• The springs are in barrells which serve little purpose other than to hinder access to them.
• Its a nightmare to work on without taking it completely apart
• Non removeable rivets are used on components preventing replacment when worn. Its designed with a finite lifetime in mind.
• Its no oil painting

Overall its a win for simplicity and innovation on the part of the USA.

The Perivale is ok and in its defence is more compact, however, I know which one I would prefer in my wall or mantle clock.

Clocks can be fantastically expensive to restore so I simply dont charge for a lot of the time I spend on restorations. Typically a mantle clock from the 50’s, mid-range, pendulum, laminated sylised case, is about 30 hours work. The mechanics require a strip down, clean, and plate polished even if the clock is working because you cant have dirty movement in a clock you want to make “new”. Thats a good 7 hours as you really have to learn the clock to completely take it apart. All the mechanics work fundementally the same but the arrangement of components vary. Its incrediby easy to whizz through and dissassemble once you know the method, but if you havent just looked at it for an hour and seen exactly the way it works, then it will take twice as long to put back together. Its necessary to photo document the movement from every angle so that when you come accross a problem you can refer to the precise positioning of cams, levers and springs. I still do this even though I can now operate without a camera and sometimes the precaution is appropriate.

The case requires a completely different set of skills. Its all about colour and finish. I know a disturbing amount about varnish and how it behaves it different dilutions of thinner. Nobody can teach you, not even a video because it a very tactile and material dependent. Ive worked with exotic hard woods like Sequioa and Ebony, British staples like oak and walnut, as well as fruit woods and box wood!. Each one takes the finish differently and requires a slightly different method.

This is the other reason I do resotorations – its a nice change of pace to completely change to a different dicipline like finishing and polishing because you always make progress and learn something new.

The other thing that is essentail for a case restoration is a bit of oil painting. I use oils to cover blemishes or lost veneer because

1. Its good for colour blending on the pallette where you want to be working with several closely related hues.
2. You can mimic wood grain with different hues and a brush tips
3. Oil paint (dried) will not change colour or hue when a clear gloss finish is applied with varnish.
4. Oil paint is viscous enough to partially fill scrathes and dents.

Most clock veneer repairs via this method can only be spotted under close scrutiny and the trick is of course how well you are able to do this – im always improving.

Restorations are only undertaken by people with emotional motivations. Its never about money on either side really. Even with my unmetered approach its still expensive, or I regard it as so anyway; low hundreds.

What it adds up to is achieving something beyond providing a useful service to people – I get to make people genuinely happy which is very rewarding. I got this card today from Wally, my brothers father in law. His clock was in a bad way so it was either “get it running” or a complete refurbish. Guess which one I felt honour bound to provide. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Ironically I forgot to take a picture of the clock but here it ia halfway through the finishing!.

 

 

This is bit of local interest so some of you may have seen this clock working at Crittall Windows in the 50’s. It was given to my friend by a chap called Eric Masters some 20 years ago. If dont know if Eric is still alive but a big shout out of thanks to him for carrying the flame on this clock for a while.

These local factory clocks are becoming valuable now. They hold memories for a lot of people and so demand is high when they become available. Quality varies but this clock is top end for the genre. A Courtaulds clock recently sold at Bocking Auctions for around £400 (2015). Compare this to the same clock without the factory connection and you could easily purchase an example for £50 – £100. The one above has solid provenance but it would have really helped it to have the factory name signwritten on the face as was the fashion at the time. You cant have everything I suppose and the bonus feature on the face is the second chronometer. Nice tick too.

This clock is fundementally awesome and works as well today as it did when it was being used (although it did need a service clean and complete tear down to component level). I work on a lot of different types of clock movement. Its unusual to do exactly the same movement more than once – there is a fantastic variety although they all incorporate various sets of features effecting accuracy and logevity. Its really interesting to see how these features are icorporated in various ways to deliver the best timekeeping for the environment and purpose of the clock.

The movement in question has two really nice fatures that make it ultra awsome, namely the fusee assembly and the platform escapement used in conjunction which is surprisingly uncommon. Firstly, the platform escapement.

Platform escapements are used in portable clocks because you cant use pendulums for obvious reasons. They are expensive to produce and cross the line into watchmaking engineering skills. Where appropriate pendulum regulation on clocks is the norm, platform escapements are only used where needed due to cost. The point about platform escapements is that they are reliable and accurate on a ship for instance, or in transit. Carriage clocks rely on them exclusively as their core time regulation component. They are also self contained and modular as you can see from the accompanying picture. This being the case, the rest of the clock components e.g. the spring, and the wheels, do not require the same production precision and will still add up to an accurate clock when assembled and set running.

That is, if the clock is fully wound of course…. which takes me to the subject of the next awsome feature – the fusee mechanism.

The point here is that while a carriage clock is accurate, the amount of time it runs for before it needs winding will vary with the age of the clock. Thats no good in a factory when the time the clock shows really counts for timesheet and production schedules.

The engineering problem is that a spring delivers more power the more tightly it is wound. You will have noticed that if you wind a stopped clock the key will turn easily at first and then tighten as you proceed to wind. This of course means the torque provided is higher when fully wound and fades as the spring unwinds.

Clocks are engineered to run on only the amount of power provided by a couple of key turns. This means that the clock will function from fully wound right through to a couple of winds short of untensioned. This all sounds fine until you factor in the weakening of the spring over time.

Despite the best efforts of the metalurgists and steel makers, spring steel has a lifetime. It gradually loses its rigidity through fatigue caused by weekly winding over many years. The other thing I have noticed is that I often get clocks that have not run for years but have been left fully wound for that time. The first thing people do when a clock stops due to mechanical failure is wind it right up to the hilt, followed by stowing it away for 20 years. In my experience this general wear translates as and 8 day clock only actually running for 6 or 7  days of its spring cycle once its about 50 – 100 years old.

To address this a fusee mechanism is employed on the Crittall clock. This is ingenious.

Rather than power the clock directly from the spring the fussee wheel acts as a variable ratio gearbox for the delivery of  consistent and adequate torque to the gearing. The real coup de gras on this is that with the clock fully expent the spring can be tensioned against the connecting chain. It means that even when the clock completely unwinds the spring is still under some tension and there is no “fade” in the delivery of power. Because the chain is a fixed length you get exactly the same amount of turns on the winder every time its wound. 8 days means 8 days with one of these.

Another quick point on this – ive not seen a covered platform escapment before as on this clock. Its a cap to dust cover for the flywheel and tiny spring. Smaller components in clocks are sensitive to dust build up and rememeber.. this was used in a factory, so again, another feature incorporated spefically for the clocks environment. I forgot to get a picture of this specifically but was lucky enough to snap most of it in another shot.

If I were looking for a wall clock and I had a choice of anything under £500 this would come close to the top of the list. Its functional accurate and reeks of confident competent design and engineering. The ultimate presitige kitchen clock!. This one isnt for sale but keep an eye out at Braintree and other auctions and you may well get lucky – Ive seen 3 in a year go under the hammer.

If anybody knows this clock please do get in touch. I would be more happy to publish and attribute any information as an addendum to this article. Email me at admin@braintreeclockrepairs.co.uk

 

 

This tells you exactly how to replace gut, how to go about it, what to avoid, the perfect finish and what gut to buy.

This first section of this article explains the difficult bit in replacing broken cat gut lines on a grandfather clock. Ive sort of started in the middle where the job gets interesting but I also cover the initial steps later on for those who are completely new to clock repairs and maintenance.

The pictures show the barrel removed from the clock for the sake of clarity. You will not need to remove the barrel, I just did so for you because the ratchet is hidden away somewhat when the barrel is in place and I wanted to show a clear view of the components.

So, you need to fit the new gut….

You will have to remove the old gut which invloves unwrapping what is left of it from the barrel.

You need to get the barrel free wheeling so you can just peel off the gut by pulling it. To do this you need to find the ratchet which is on the curcumference mounted above the jagged edged ratchet wheel. It might not be in view so you need to rotate the barrel until you can see it. Do this with the key from the front of the clock while looking at the back of the clock for the ratchet to come round to where you can get at it.

As you can see from the picture you need to press this lever ratchet to release the cog to free wheel. Note that the ratchet is sprung with an arc spring. These can be surprisingly heavily sprung and quite hard to press in / release. Beware of using a screwdriver to push back the ratchet as you could stretch its retaining spring and disabling the essentail ratchet function until the spring is reshaped. Use the ratchet handle for this reason, even if its stiff or highly sprung.

Once you have unwound the line then you need to detatch it from the barrel. Wiggle the gut a little and you will see it and its retaining knot moving inside the barrel through the hole – use a torch or clip on lamp to really help you see what you are doing as it is a fiddly job. You should be able to grip the line with the pliers and pull it out after a few attempts. Cut it and detatch.

The picture below shows the barrel access hole corresponding to the line hole.

 

 

Now its time to attach the new gut. Once you have threaded the new gut into the barrel then extract the end through the access hole with the pliers as before. Tie a single knot – if you do a double it probably wont go through the access hole – the gut is too stiff. A single knot will become incredibly tight under pressure and will hold securely once you pull it back into the barrel.

The first time you wind the gut on the barrel, do it without the head of the clock on so you can see the exposed movement and ensure the line is flowing into the barrel grooves correctly.

Dont wind the gut back onto the barrel unless you have the movement back in the clock with the weight attached. This is important because if you try and do it by pulling the line with your hand to keep tension, it wont sink into the barrel grooves correctly. Its tempting to do this the first time as you will be keen to test your work while the movement is off the clock. The point is that if the gut is wound loosely it can tighten over and under itself when the weight is attached. Cutting it away and starting again after you have done 95% of the job can be the only option in these instances. In a nutshell, you need to reassemble the clock partially before winding the gut on.

People often ask me if they can or should use modern alternatives to cat gut. The answer is that its perfectly possible to use 60lb fishing line but its not as good for a couple of reasons. Firstly and most importantly it would be like roofing a thatched cottage with Tesco bags. Secondly the fishing line, and other synthetics come with too much “material memory”. In essence they dont take on the shape of the barrel over time as cut gut does. This means every time you take the weights off you risk a birds nest in the clock as the evil nylon instantly goes into a demonic tangle that will take you some time to sort out and possibly give you a heart attack. So dont do it if you value your life and sanity. I probably sound a litte raw from experience. The observant will have noticed that my pictures do actually feature nylon devil line – I am in in the process of replacing it and so its shortfalls are fresh in my mind.

If your taking the head and movement off the clock for the first time be careful. Disconnect the weights and take off the head to start (slide it forwards towards you and it detatches somewhat like an upside down drawer), then remove the pendulum. The main risk is forgetting to remove the pendulum before trying to lift off the movement.

The problem is that its generlly sitting back in the dark case and is easy to overlook unless you are working to a check list method. If you try to remove the movement with the pedulum attached then you may well break the leaf spring that it hangs from. This is a weak point in the whole assembly and easily snapped or creased. Its not the end of the world as modern replacements are available and in some cases you can get a contemporary part if you are fortunate.

Its still a job you dont need so check yourself and have a method and order of things to hand before you start. Proceedure is everything with clock repairs and maintentance, tick off the individual steps as you progress. This helps keep an organised and pleasant pace to things and removes uncertainty. It might seem like overdoing it but mistakes are frustrating and a relaxed pace is the best way. If you do it with a method you know youve done a good job properly. Heres my jotter list in bold for reference.

• Remove head and store in a safe place. You will be looking up a lot of the time and its easy to put your foot through the nice big pane of glass at floor level if its within 6 feet of the clock on the floor. Replacing glass is expensive and surprisingly difficult on a grandfather clock because of the materials used to set it into the door. Its very hard to get older glass with its delicate imperfections so if your lucky enough to have original glass then take good care of it.
• Remove weights. Grip the weights, not the gut when you do this. Holding the weights by the gut may seem easier but it will slip through your fingers unexpectedly causing friction burns or cuts. Its abrasive stuff compared to modern equivalents so a bit of respect is due when handling it with weights.
• Remove the pendulum and place away from the clock. If you leave the pendulum in the case  it will probably get damaged should you drop the weights during the overall excercise. Fumbles happen because everything on a grandfather clock is a bit of a surprise in terms of forces and pressure points. The best thing is to protect against them rather than think it wont happen.
• Cut the old gut where it attaches at the oppoiste end. This will normally be a peg / stopper type attachement and you can see more if you look into the movement and view the peg. Do this because you are going to replicate whatever you see when you re-assemble the clock.
• Install the new gut
• Replace the clock movement to the case
• Thread the gut through the weight loop pulley wheels. This is easily forgotten and a pain to go back to after youve threaded the leading ends and tied the pegs!.
• Fasten the leading end of the gut in the same way it was attached in the first place
• Attach weights
• Wind on the gut so the weights are raised
• Fit the pendulum now the weight are raised providing the best possible access.
• Fit the head on the clock
• Pat self on back / light up cigar / look smug

Thats 12 steps over a 45 – 90 minute job so its worth doing a check list.

The pendulum is removed by lifting it off its hook at the rear of the movement and sliding it down through its loop on the escapement arm. Take a look at the back of the clock – the aformentioned escapement arm and pendulum are exposed components so its not to hard to work out how it all fits together and should come apart. When you disconnect the pendulum from its hook it might at first feel that the leaf spring connectors are too thick to fit down through the loop. Rest assured that it will definitely fit through because it was assembled that way; its just that the loop needs to be as thin as possible for the clock to run efficiently and connect with the arm that keeps in swinging with a little push on each stroke. It can be tricky and quite tiring on the arms – patience is key. Take a break every minute as your arms and fingers get tired which is often when the pendulum slips out of your hands heads towards your floor.

If it looks initailly that this might take some time its useful to have a friend hold the rod of the pendulum from the inside of the clock while you work on threading it at the top of the clock. This works well because you dont have the weight of the pendulum to deal with as well of the fiddly business of un-threading it through the loop on the escapement arm at the same time.

If your not tall enough to comfortably reach behind the top of the movement then get somebody who is to assist with this bit. Im not being “shortist”, its just that there is a certain element of risk. For instance, dont use a chair or you may end up on the floor under a clock that has fallen on you because you were gripping the top of the clock when you lost your balance. Losing your balance is easy when you are trying to twist about to get half your forearm into the clock.

Its also easy to fumble it / drop the pendulum – its a thin rod with a fair weight on the end and requires a firm grip from an awkward angle. If the pendulum drops it will stick a wooden floor tile like a spear. If on a hard floor it will bend or snap the adjustment screw on the base of the rod. Most grandfather clocks are more than 100 years old so if you look at yours you will almost certainly find it bent already and then bent back! – a message from the past perhaps.

The cat gut itself is 1.4mm diameter for the vast majority of grandfather clocks. It can be bought easily online and prices range from £7 to £20 depending on quality. Make sure you buy enough and measure up beforehand rather than guesstimate. Measure with the gut completely unwound from the barrel of the intact side, pulled firmly straight to simulate its extension in the clock case. You can measure the length with the weight attached in the clock case but in the majority of instances the space is to restricted to use a tape measure accurately and you make a better job of it with the movement detatched on a table. A little more time and care spent here can make all the difference to the end result.

This is because the length is quite important. If its too long the gut double winds on the barrel when fully raised. This can lead to uneven wear and also means you weights will lie down on the floor when fully extended. As they lie down, or you wind them up, they will drag on the floor or clock base.

If on the other hand the gut is too short then it will require winding more frequently, but not significantly. So shorter rather than longer is best when guessing. You will essentailly be guessing even after you measure because however much you simulate weight pressure your probably going to pull up a little short of the true value; the weights are about 12kg each typically and the gut goes very straight under that sort of pressure.

Wether you need to do both sides when only one has failed is really down to wear. Take a good look at the intact side to see if there is significant fraying. Gut can go a bit “hairy” which is fine practically speaking, however, if you see fractured larger fibres that feel firm to the touch / scratchy then replace it. If in doubt replace it as you have the clock apart anyway and its easier the second time you do it.

Good luck with your clock. Email me if you need a hand or advice.

Justin

 

This post is mainly about dating a grandfather clock and Elvis.

I came accross this today. The weight cat gut had snapped which is a reasonably straight forward thing to fix and I will be publishing a guide on doing exactly that in my next post.

This Redshaw Newcastle clock is intersting for a few reasons. The most noteable is the round dial. It is actually a round dial as opposed to simply a round appeture over a square plate. Ive not seen this before, or convex glass on the head so I did a bit of research.

The maker is Redshaw of Newcastle. John Redshaw apprenticed with John Beech of newcastle in the early 18th century as far as I can work out. This conflicts datewise as the style of the face markings is firmly 1775-1805. It seems likely to me that this clock was produced by an apprentice or journeyman of Redshaws because he would have been getting on a bit when I believe this clock was made which I will come to once I have explained what evidence there is for an accurate appraisal of age.

The clock is original, everything about it is “right”. Ive seen other examples of Redshaws work and its very typical noth in terms of style and materials. As an aside to the date info here it migh interest you o know a very similar clock sold for £2150 in 2012 when values were low – thats a very good price for the buyer in hindsight. Clocks like this were selling for £10,000 ten years ago so even though the £2150 seems low its all comparative – this is a good clock with reasonable bragging rights!.

Dating this clock was more difficult than usual but the same rules applied to this as all the other clocks I see.

The first thing I noted was that the dial doesnt feature any of the legacy markings of the old one handed style clocks, such as markings for the half quarter hour; this means its likely to be 1740 onwards.

To further refine this identification I looked at other face features. The dotted markings for the minute hand refelcts the fashion of the period from 1775 to 1810. Another key feature that allows the clock to be placed is the sequencing of the arabic minute markers as 5, 10, 15 etc which was used until 1805 when it was replaced with 15, 30,  and 45.

A great way to put a grandfather clock within a date range is the face size / diameter. Dials increased in size from 1680 (10 inch) to 1860 (15 inch). This means you can often guess a grandfather clocks age within 15 years each way just by measuring the dial, although there were regional variations in this. An ancillary general rule is that at any given time dial sizes were 1 or 2 inches wider on Northern clocks for some reason. This applies to the clock case as well which increased in size over the 200 years of production with the north of the country being slightly bolder both in terms of size and deviation from the “standard” london design style led by London makers.

So at this point we know the clock is confirmed on three levels as a 1775 – 1810 item. Now, this clock is from Newcastle quite a way from London, however, if you look at it proportionally its not as big as one might expect from a clock from 1810, nor is it particularly grand or overblown. Its therefore less likely to have been produced later in the date range. The midpoint of 1775 – 1810 is 1790 so if we take off 10 years to balance the northern effect then the clock is likely to have been produced between 1780 and 1790.

Another hint on dating these clocks… look carefully at the roman numbers that are engraved into the dial. If the clock is original as opposed to a reproduction you will be able to see that the roman numerals have been hand engraved. This shows as a slightly bumpy inset relief on the numbers. Its where hand tools were used to gouge out the numbers into the brass plate. There SHOULD BE MISTAKES. This is important. Machines used in fakery or retro-styling of a modernish item dont make mistakes. If its perfect its not old unless its a really outstanding example from a top end maker which will be obvious anyway. Ive enlarged a picture of one of the numbers to show what I mean.

The orange arrow shows where the engraver has had to change direction in the middle of a numeral. Its only a small error but it shows humanity in the production.

When this clock was produced the skills employed were high status. Computing and programming have a similar social status today as occupations. What is also worth considering is that the engraver would have been working on something quite valuable and it would have been a pressurised task to complete. If he had slipped with his chisel and marked the face it would have been a question of scrapping it and starting again.

I never ever swear when I do clocks because that would be wrong. This allows me to predict with some confidence that the engraver didnt swear extensively when he realised he was going in the wrong direction half way up the V.

Its this sort of human connection you get with old clocks that make them a joy to examine.

When buying a grandfather clock, consider that the case and the movement might not be an original pair. This significantly effects value simply because there are far more frankenstien grandfather clocks than there are originals. Its not really surprising as wooden cases rot and movements are engineered for longevity. The movements were always valuable and would simply never have been scrapped unless severely damaged or worn which generally speaking takes hundreds of years.

It can be quite hard to definitely identify an unmatched movement and case but heres what to look out for on a first look.

Is the plate on which the movement sits (a wooden platform that the movement bolts to) the same material, colour and condition as the rest of the clock interior facing panels?. If you can see newer cuts on the seating of this shelf it means its had to be modified to fit. That being the case its not the original movement in all likelyhood.

These items were high value when produced and all the wood would have been cut to fit perfectly and elegantly with room for adjustment where necessary, and tight fitting where it was not. When looking at this dont mistake modification for wear and tear. It might be that the shelf has worn the seating out a bit; after all, that shelf supports between 20 – 30kg of weight on narrow connection points. This means its common to see original parts that have been repaired and replaced in part, however, what you need to do it really look at it and say “can I see a factory fit in there somewhere”.

On this point,  many people believe (correctly) that clock makers bought in cases and case makers bought in movements. It was common sense to farm out the specialist jobs such as engraving to third parties and a surpirsing amount of components, such as the spandrels on the face, were bought in as prefabricated components from a set range common throughout the industry. The point here is that this tends to encourage people to believe that there will therefore be some innocent mis-match at the point of origin. This is a great way of convicing yourself that you are are going to buy an original as opposed to a frankenclock – a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

To be clear, if a clock was sold by a maker, at the time is was bought the customer would most probably have been unable to tell. This means that you shouldnt be able to either.

If you clock movement looks badly engineered into its case then its probably a frankenclock. If you see one in a shop thats cheaper than it should be its also probably a frankenclock. Any retailer that sells you a grandfather clock is going to know the difference because of the difference in its value. A good frankenclock will cost about £1000 as of today (July 2016) and an original case and movement will cost £3000 for an item of the same approximate age and style. Dont expect the retailer to tell you if its a matched clock and case. Theres a reason for this beyond sales polotics. It is that people who know about clocks use the term “clock” to describe only the movement. This means if a dealer tells you its an original clock what he may be referring to is the clock movement and is not necessarily including the case in his implied description.

This is not subdefuge or dishonesty and happens because people who by grandfather clocks for the first time tend to give the impression that they know what they are talking about and so the conversation is conducted under certain assumptions about terminology. Or your being ripped off  and not told the whole story unless you ask specifically. It depends on how you look at it!.

I hope this encourages you to learn to date grandfather clocks. If you want further reading then I can recommend any book on grandfathers by Brian Loomes who is basicly a clock knowledge demi-god. I emailed him to ask a question, not really expecting a reply. He emailed back to tell me he was too busy to answer my email. I am blessed – I was told to go away by Brian Loomes which is about a high status as being able to say you were beaten up by Elvis. If you like clocks.

[Many thanks to D for letting me take the pics – cheers old bean]

I recently undertook a clock repair and restoration for a friend in Braintree. It was a complete refurbish with two mainspring replacments as well as a strip down of the wood and replacement of the glass. It took absolutely ages and was particularly difficult as the varnish on the clock had to be stripped back and redone. All in all a very satisfying result.

Clocks such as this Smiths art deco example are becoming increasingly rare. The movements tend to have a full westminster chime with quarter hours. They wear out and it is often the case that they have to be replaced with a modern equivalent if one can be sourced. I managed to salvage and restore all the original components apart from the springs themselves which were replaced by new modern equivalents.

The clock was placed in the sitting room, beatifully framed by the back wall wich featured an Egyptian white relief inspired by Egyptian tomb art. All hand done and DIY. That was just the beginning of the surprises however.

 

When I delivered the finished clock I was shown round the house and garden which were spectacular. The friends in question were very keen amateur egyptologists and had decorated their house with Egyptian art and sculpture. It was only when I saw this in the garden that I realised these people were SERIOUS Egypt fans.

I estimate that this home made obelisk is about 25ft high. It was constructed from concrete reinforced with steel bar. Thats what I call commitment. The absolutely best thing about clock people is that they appreciate the better things in life. I meet tons and tons of the nicest people you can imagine and all have a story to tell. Theres something about mechanical clocks that attracts the more interesting people and they are all a pleasure to meet.

This is just a quick article to show you roughly whats involved and how you go about things if you want to replace a broken clock mainspring. Its quite a challenge on any clock so Ive selected a particularly simple movement to show whats done. This article is for somebody who already knows how to take apart and put back together a simple movement – a beginner with a bit of talent. Mainspring breaks and replacements are a common problem so I thought I would do an overview article on roughly whats invloved and how to go about it.

How do you tell if your clock mainspring is broken?

You can tell if your mainspring is broken because the clock key will offer little or no real resistance when you try and wind the clock. If the spring has broken in the middle this may be a little different; in this case the clock will wind for maybe two or three turns but then you will hear the spring move and the resisitance on the key will go down again. In either case you will need to have it replaced.

As you can see from this picture the main spring here has broken and needs replacing. Note the that spring has broken about five or ten centimeters from the barrel spiggot and there is still about 120 cm of spring braced tightly to the edge of the barrel.

Removing a broken clock mainspring

To remove this force  a sharp wide object (I used a sharpened bradel) in between the wound spring layers. You want to lift the spring so you can get some long nosed pliers in the gap. Once you have done this grip the spring with the pliers and STOP.

If you pull the spring out now it will unwind like a whip cracking and you could easily be injured because your likely to be holding the barrel with your other hand and this is the area the spring will be at its most dangerous.

To avoid this wrap it in a towel so you can only the handle of the pliers sticking out of what should look like a big chelsea bun or turban (sorry turban guys – no offence meant its just that if it looks like a turban your doing it right!).

Now you can pull the spring out with the pliers and the towel will dampen the expansion of the spring. When you see it go “splong” you will realise the turban towell is a very good idea indeed. If its a thick spring e.g. the spring thickness looks over half a mm then take particular care and double towel it – the spring is strong and will unwind like a flying blade. I have injured myself hurrying things and not bothering with the towel – unwise, and the sort of thing you learn early and quickly in clock tear down and rebuild.

Once the spring is out then you need a vernier gauge or micrometer to measure the spring in order to source an identical replacement. If the movement is worn then you might like to go for a stronger thicker spring but not by more than .1 or .2mm.  This can put a bit of life into the chiming spring if the coggs are worn in the clock and its all a bit loose.

How to measure a broken clock spring and how to search for one online.

Springs are measured in three dimensions for specifications purposes. Firstly the thickness which ranges from .3mm to about .7mm for a typical mantle clock. Your going to have to bend a portion of the spring flat in order to get an accurate reading. An accurate reading to .1mm is essentail for success and if your not sure round the number up as opposed to down.

The second measurement is the height of the spring – typically between 15 and 40mm. 40mm is likely to be quite a thick spring as well – simply dont attempt these larger ones – genuinely dangerous. As a first timer really dont attempt anything over about 20mm and thats pushing it. If your going to have a go at this the best idea is to buy a cheap old broken clock and dismember it on the assumption its not going back together again – a training clock in essence.

Lastly you might think that the third dimension would be the length, but it is not, it is the barrel width, or more accurately the internal barrel width. A vernier guage should be used to measure this last dimension. So, the spring I used in this clock is described as a .3 x 20 x 30; a relatively weak and safe spring to work with.

Preparing your replacement clock spring

Your spring will arrive from your supplier looking like this.

Before going any further lubricate the spring with clock oil. Soak it and then dry off the excess. If you have been lucky enough to source a spring that is 3 to 5mm less in diameter than you need for the barrel, then you can just put in in there. The problem is that if you go for this option the spring overall may not give you the 8 days of wind you ideally want or worse, it might not provide enough power to drive a worn movement. The movment is likely to be worn because a spring will last a good 30 years in my experience.

Installing the new clock mainspring and about spring winders…. do you need one (yes = safe, no = highly risky)

To insert the spring into the barell use the wire wrapped round the spring as a brace agains the top of the barrel wall and then push the spring in while the wire remains braced above / on the barrel edge to about 3mm. I have found that tapping the spring in this way slowly until its almost released for the wire is the best way and then finally give it a fairly punchy hit with a flat object – a flat piece of wood is ideal if you place the wood on the top and then hit the wood with a mallet. if your lucky the spring will go in completely flat but this rarely happens. The edge of the spring is more than likely sticking up at the edges. You need to correct this or the barrel cap wont fit back on. To do this use a screwdrive or flat punch to kock the spring edge in flat. Do this bit by bit around the entire edge until you can see tha the barrel cap has enough room at the edges to to back on flat and in line with the barrel circumference edge which will normall have inset seating in the barrel you can see.

You will also need to line up the hole on the outside of the barrel with the peg inside the barrel wall that is there to hold it when wound. If you find you miss it dont worry to much as this will either correct itself when you wind the spring or it will stay in place which is perfectly ok, if not perfectly correct. It will also lead to some premature ageing on the spring but nothing you need to forcast for e.g. 20 years. The peg inside the barrel is the reason a 30mm diameter spring will not slide into a 30mm barrel fully.

This is why you need a spring winder. Strictly speaking the spring should be unwound fully (released from its wire holdings) and then rewound and rebound with wire in the same fashion as before. In short you need a spring winder to do the job properly. These can be bought from online and you need to look at a few to decide which one you really need based on the sizes of springs your intend to work on. I tend to work on a lot of mantle clocks so thats what I bought mine based on.

For an experiment I built my own spring winder. I was not too ambitious with the design and opted for one that would handle only one spring type. It really wasnt that difficult although I wouldnt dare use it on anything over a relatively safe and weak guage spring as there were several “malfunctions” during its prototype phase  and during use.

My honest advice on this “do it yourself spring winder” is dont attempt it because its dangerous as well as painfull when a spring unwinds on your fingers. I am very used to working with springs and know what Im dealing with in terms of forces and tolerances – you probably dont yet so proceed carefully with any of your own inventions if you find yourself compelled to tinker. I have to say I had great fun building this jigg and it was not as easy as I expected. I wouldnt do it again in light of the risks and various injuries I sustained.

In essence you can see whats going on from the picture. The only thing you cant see is that the shaft of the screwdriver has a spiggot on it.

I embedded this spiggot with an HSS drill bit and using good carbon steel for the spiggot itself but made sure the screwdriver was soft \ cheap and therefore easier to drill. The green wire holding the springkeeps it taught and fixed at the outer edge, while the scredriver is turned to compress the spring. As you turn the handle the spring compresses and reduced diameter. Every few turns you measure diameter with a vernier guage. This is the point I sustained most finger bruises and cuts because I had to get close to the spring to measure it and measuring invloved touching it – a bad idea as I found out.

Its easier to drill lower quality steel when you make things generally speaking and you really need a couple of hundred pounds to buy a standing industrial quality drill for any kind of engineering clock repair. I had one already of course but if you want to cost this all out well… ehem is all I can really add. The point of building this was simply to see if it could be done and connect a little bit with the ethos of the clock makers of old. Us clockists really respect the early makers and methods simply because you realise people did all this precision mathematically driven work with hand tools and jiggs. It really is astonishing when you look at some of the pre 1800 clocks and take on board the level of engineering and mathematical knowledge that is essentail in the production of a hand made clock. This is my little contribution to the craft…appalling effort, but an effort none the less. And it worked.

Alligning the barrel spiggot on a new clock mainspring.

Once youve got the spring in the barrel the next important part is making sure the spiggots hook catches the spring when you turn it clockwise. You will see how this works when you do it. Its likely you will need to bend the spring towards the centre of the barell so that its pressed against it when its at rest and vertical. When you bend the spring with long nosed pliers DO NOT bend the part of the spring where the inner hold is located. The spring will overbend in this area and its also possible to bend it unevenly and differently on each side of the hole. This will lead to the spring edge being on a tilt where it connects to the spigot and can mean the hook will not be able to catch the hole as its rotated. To test if your spring connects with the spiggot correctly you need to fit the barel cap and then turn it quite aggressively. It needs to hold so there is no point of being gentle with the rotation. If it slips you will feel it, so you then remove the barell cap and re-adjust again (and again and again) until its all catching perfectly and you are absolutely sure its secure.

The reason I emphasise this testing proceedure is that if you put the whole movement together (which can take literally days on a complicated job), and it doesnt work…you have to do the whole thing all over again in terms of dissassembly / assembly.

I hope this article removes some of the trepidation for the first time spring replacement jedi trainee and I am more that happy to provide Yoda like adivice via email if you have a project you need some basic assumtions confirmed or general questions answered.

If you want me to do it for you just give me an email or ring and I can quote you on the spot if im in the workshop.

Above all – have fun with it. Its great to undertake a job like this and complete it; you really feel like youve taken a genuine step forward in your clockery expertise. I still get a buzz out of fitting a spring – your working with high tension components and you need to be careful, organised and check list based in your approach because mistakes can cost you the spring and whatever it costs for an ambulance these days….read on.

Safety Stuff that is actually worth reading and not here because I want to bore you do death.

Seriously on that point – safety. Some things you really do need during this from start to finish, if you dont have them then buy some as the very first job on the project list. Safety kit hampers movement and the speed you can work at but its essentail unless you want to lose an eye or finger. It also allows you to work more confidently as the strength of clock mainsprings generally is greater than you would expect without any experience.

1. Wear good tough gloves for all operations where the spring is under pressure.  You neet gloves with good all round protection, knuckls and the back of your hand are the bits that take the punishment so dont bother with gardening gloves!. Thick leather are my recommendation. The rule is that they only come off when the spring is in the barell and your in the safe zone.
2. Dont attempt a home made experimental winder like mine if you are using anything over .3mm strength as even those pack a punch when they unwind when you make a mistake.
3. You would have to be mad not to wear eye protection on this job. Its ABOSOLUTELY essentail. Your often looking at the spring from the angle that puts you at maximum risk – the direction it will instantly unfurl like a flying blade. If you dont wear eye protection that blade will take your eye out.
4. Work with your head at least a couple of feet (60cm) away from the wound spring at all times. This is a job you do at arms length.

Dont do this job when you are distracted or at risk of distraction. Distractions interupt important processess and if you return from and interuption maybe you absent mindedly took off your safetey glasses off to put your reading ones on…. an easy mistake to make and potentailly very dangerous.

Be safe and enjoy yourselves – always happy to hear from you.

 

 

 

Read this is your looking to repair an electric pendulum clock from the 80’s as it could save you a lot of frustration on ordering cock ups if you want to have a go yourself. But dont do that – get me to do it ;-).

Rather than reproduce the hints Ive just pasted an email I sent to a recent enquiry – its got all the info and you can see how I approach my jobs / customers at the same time!.

“Its likely to be a high tork electric pendulum movement. I did one today – a Seiko. Its a walk in the park to fit it providing you confident with getting the hands off the front. These might just pull off or there might be a screw or lynch pin holding them on. Remove the hands and replace the movement with an identical one and you are done. Finding an identical one is either easy or mindbendingly boring. Essentailly there are probably 5 movement types available globally on ebay. If you have one of those then its and easy job. If not you have to buy a donor clock – basicly find your clock or one using the same movement and then use that.

The things its easy to mess up if you are taking the DIY approach.

1. Spindle length. This is how far the nose of the movement stick out. If its not enough it wont clear the clock face and if its too much the nose hits the clock glass and stops the hands.

2. Hand appeture width. You have to vernier guage your hands inner holes and then order the right option with the movement. Its that or alternatively use the hands that come with the new movement. This isnt as bad as it sounds – most movements can be bought with a reasonable choice of hands. This link is the sort of thing you are after but I can advise on the exact item once you have sent a photo.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Takane-Westminster-Chime-Pendulum-Quartz-Battery-Movement-to-fit-a-5-8-Dial-/231909567469?hash=item35fee32bed:g:YK0AAOSw8RJXCrsP

If you dont want to go through what is mostly specification and ordering hassle then get me to do it. Cheers, Justin”