In for repair is a Sessions mantel clock.
The clock came to me because the mainspring on the strike side gave way and the mainspring's power released damaging one wheel and a finger of the customer. Here is it's story to recovery.
The click spring was totally missing. there was nothing pressing against the click on the click wheel to function properly. Hence, the exploding main spring. Collateral damage was one pivot on the 2nd wheel was bent. That was not all that needed attention.
1) The movement was very dirty.
2) There were 11 pivot holes that were worn that needed rebuilding.
3) The damaged pivot needed straightening.
4) The mainsprings were coated with hardened oil that made accumulated on the springs.
5) The case had some minor damage.
6) One of the grommets on one of the keyholes were missing.
Getting the clock movement out of the case was a little interesting. The expanded spring was pushing against the side wall of the case. The chime block and the lower rear wood panel had to come out in order to remove the movement. Below is a picture of the movement from the back.
This next image is the clock movement marked where the worn pivot holes need rebuilding.
The next step is to disassemble the clock movement. After disassembly, The mainspring shows a mangled mess. As you can see in the picture, the mainspring has had some repair attempted previously. The wire spring is not original and could have come from a scrap pile. Notice the click is facing in the wrong direction. The mainspring had to be removed from the wheel in order to get to the click and click spring. The click and spring was removed and a new click and spring was riveted on.
As mentioned above, there were 11 pivot holes that needed rebuilding. All pivots were checked for roughness. It's good to see that after 100 years the pivots were in very good condition, After the damaged pivot and holes rebuilt, the entire disassembled clock movement was ultrasonically cleaned then dried. All pivot holes were peg wooded out to remove any leftover dirt and grime.
The clock could then be re-assembled. Here is a picture of the clock movement in pieces ready to be assembled. (Excuse the over exposed pic)
Now for a little case and face work. As mentioned earlier a winding hole was missing a gromet. Both gromets were replaced to so they would be a matching set.
The picture below shows the before then after picture.
Before - Missing gromet on the right winding whole
After new gromets.
The face was damaged and a previous repairer tried to paint over. It was decided to leave this along as it tells a little history of the clock. There was some case damage. This was repaired. The entire case was oiled with hi grade wood oil.
The bezel was also polished. A lot of tarnish was removed.
The clock is assembled and testing is needed before it goes back into the case. Below is a short video the movement running and striking outside the case. Parden the background noise. A 747 jet must have flown over.
Finally, when all the repair work is complete and all the adjustments are done. The movement is installed the case and final strike hammer and regulation is completed.
The clock is ready come go back to it's owner.
A job well done
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