VO5
Well-Known Member
Well, I don't know how others have spent the weekend. Here it has been raining with thunder and lightning for a change. I decided not to go out all weekend.
I have a Seth Thomas Striking Ships Bell Clock I bought on ebay 5 years ago.
You want to be careful what you buy on ebay.
Its a 5 inch diameter brass case for bulkhead fitting, Silvered Dial, Arabic numerals, Blue Steel hands, Strike/Silent, German Movement and cased in the USA, about 1952 vintage.
When I first set it up on board, it more or less kept time but missed bells, particularly at 7pm (7 bells) 1 pm (2 bells) and 4.30 pm (1 bell). So I took it off and brought it home.
I have had it in a drawer for about 2 years.
The problem with these complicated strikers is finding someone really competent to tackle them.
I have just restored the other one, a Smiths Bridge Clock, also in a brass case
that was losing ten minutes a day.
I am pleased to report I have got it running to - 4 seconds a day and improved its winding from 8 days to 12.
But this Striker is another kettle of fish altogether because of its complexity.
The Bridge clock was slow because the lubrication in it had congealed and...(this is what happens when the have a go brigade decide to tamper..)..the collimating screw at the back plate controlling the endshake of the 4th wheel and pivot had been tightened instead of eased, hence binding the train, which is the sequence of wheels behind the dial that ultimately drive the hands.
But on Monday last week I decided to do something about this one....
So I hunted around on the internet for reputable clockmakers and found several. But the problem is that the drives both for the driving train (timekeeping) and the strike train (bells), had become frozen (the barrels that is) and a clock that is fully wound up ought not to be transported, particularly knowing how parcels are treated in transit. The barrels have to be let down first.
So yesterday morning I began to examine this striker (its a beautiful beast)
more closely...
I observed tiny specs of laquer inside the glass. I was very puzzled. I came to the conclusion that the case and bezel, instread of being laquered with a camel hair brush, had been sprayed. The dirty bugger who did the job even left a thumbprint on the inside of the glass. I now expected to encounter bodging, hoping the bodging would not be of the really serious terminal variety..
I proceeded to open the case to look at the movement.
The whole movement had been sprayed wiuth WD 40 or a similar lubricant This is a lazy incompetent way to deal with a delicate timepeice just to be able to justify on ebay that it runs and makes the bells.
The lesson here is not to buy any striking clocks there.
Incidentally the other one I mention above I also bought via ebay, but, to the credit of the vendor, he did mention it was slow and probably "needed an overhaul".
I proceeded to let down the winding and comandeered the dining room table for the job. (SWMBO has been busy painting a few yards away, so that's a plus).
I covered the table with two old charts, face down.
I dismantled the whole lot. I counted 183 parts.
I used two cans of lighter fuel to repeatedly clean everything in a porcelain dish and cleaned out the holes with toothpicks. Then I lubricated with watch oil and systematically put the whole lot together again.
The good news is I have finished.
It is here right in front of me, keeping time and happily making bells, and not missing any.
One derives a huge amount of satisfaction from missions such as these.
Do any of you have mechanical striking ships clocks on board too ?
I have a Seth Thomas Striking Ships Bell Clock I bought on ebay 5 years ago.
You want to be careful what you buy on ebay.
Its a 5 inch diameter brass case for bulkhead fitting, Silvered Dial, Arabic numerals, Blue Steel hands, Strike/Silent, German Movement and cased in the USA, about 1952 vintage.
When I first set it up on board, it more or less kept time but missed bells, particularly at 7pm (7 bells) 1 pm (2 bells) and 4.30 pm (1 bell). So I took it off and brought it home.
I have had it in a drawer for about 2 years.
The problem with these complicated strikers is finding someone really competent to tackle them.
I have just restored the other one, a Smiths Bridge Clock, also in a brass case
that was losing ten minutes a day.
I am pleased to report I have got it running to - 4 seconds a day and improved its winding from 8 days to 12.But this Striker is another kettle of fish altogether because of its complexity.
The Bridge clock was slow because the lubrication in it had congealed and...(this is what happens when the have a go brigade decide to tamper..)..the collimating screw at the back plate controlling the endshake of the 4th wheel and pivot had been tightened instead of eased, hence binding the train, which is the sequence of wheels behind the dial that ultimately drive the hands.
But on Monday last week I decided to do something about this one....
So I hunted around on the internet for reputable clockmakers and found several. But the problem is that the drives both for the driving train (timekeeping) and the strike train (bells), had become frozen (the barrels that is) and a clock that is fully wound up ought not to be transported, particularly knowing how parcels are treated in transit. The barrels have to be let down first.
So yesterday morning I began to examine this striker (its a beautiful beast)
more closely...
I observed tiny specs of laquer inside the glass. I was very puzzled. I came to the conclusion that the case and bezel, instread of being laquered with a camel hair brush, had been sprayed. The dirty bugger who did the job even left a thumbprint on the inside of the glass. I now expected to encounter bodging, hoping the bodging would not be of the really serious terminal variety..
I proceeded to open the case to look at the movement.
The whole movement had been sprayed wiuth WD 40 or a similar lubricant
This is a lazy incompetent way to deal with a delicate timepeice just to be able to justify on ebay that it runs and makes the bells.The lesson here is not to buy any striking clocks there.
Incidentally the other one I mention above I also bought via ebay, but, to the credit of the vendor, he did mention it was slow and probably "needed an overhaul".
I proceeded to let down the winding and comandeered the dining room table for the job. (SWMBO has been busy painting a few yards away, so that's a plus).
I covered the table with two old charts, face down.
I dismantled the whole lot. I counted 183 parts.
I used two cans of lighter fuel to repeatedly clean everything in a porcelain dish and cleaned out the holes with toothpicks. Then I lubricated with watch oil and systematically put the whole lot together again.
The good news is I have finished.
It is here right in front of me, keeping time and happily making bells, and not missing any.
One derives a huge amount of satisfaction from missions such as these.
Do any of you have mechanical striking ships clocks on board too ?
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