"The Clock Fixer"

In for repair is a New Haven mantel clock with a reproduction mercury pendulum.  A very nicely built clock case and movement.  I do not have a picture of the clock as it came in the shop.  A picture of the final repair is available at the end of this post. The movement had significant wear and very dirty oil.  I am very surprised that it ran as long as it did with how much pivot hole wear was present. Here is a short video demonstrating the pivot wear and how much dirty oil was present in the pivots.  (Click the image below to demonstrate the wear). The two images below show the mechanism rebuilt and cleaned.  The RED arrows show the rebuilt pivot holes. Total there were 9 pivot holes that were worn.  These were rebuilt.  All pivots were inspected 5 pivots were polished to a fine gloss.  Mainsprings were removed from the barrels and everything was cleaned with using an ultrasonic clean with hi-grade clock cleaning solution.   Afte...

These images demonstrate two wheels from an American Time & Strike 30 hour clock.  An Interesting thing about this clock is the lantern pinion trundles are badly damaged.  I suspect this clock was oiled using penetration oil like WD40. There were two wheels that were exceptionally bad.  Below is the 3rd wheel on the strike train.  Notice the RED arrow showing the incredible damage. Here are the 6 trundles removed from the pinion.  In the foreground is the pivot wire used to rebuild these trundles.  The finished product The next wheel is the fly.  Notice the damage here.  A different type of damage.  This damage is wider than the 3rd wheel.  This is caused by the fly when spinning moving up and down between the plates.  The gouges are not as sharp. The trundles were the exact same size as the 3rd wheel.  Both wheels had six trundles. The finished product Long story, short, never use penetrating oil on clocks .  Use hi-...

  Some thoughts on what to look for when evaluating a clock for repair 1) Examine the clock mechanism for obvious problems before disassembly 2) Ask customer what they think is wrong Checklist Case - 1)       Hands original 2)       Case condition – wood 3)       Bezel condition – Glass & bezel hinge 4)       Case feet – damaged, present?   Mechanism – Looking in the back w/out disassembly 1)       Is the pendulum present? 2)       Are the mainsprings unwound? (both side(s)) 3)       Are the mainspring(s) broken? 4)       Condition of leather of chime and strike hammers. 5)       Run the strike and/or chime mechanism.   Does it run or runs continually? 6)       Signs of pivot hole wear - Old oil in p...