It is really relaxing to work on these when eyes become old . There are magnificent one around, at very reasonable prices. OK, you need space, a castle would be best if you start collecting. Here is a Scottish longcase clock made around 1760. It is of unusual design and boasts sweep seconds as a quite rare feature. Here a few photos from the servicing. The only "repair" needed was making a new 24h wheel (driving the date disc). The non-original one fitted had a wrong teeth count and rotated every 23h instead of 24h ....
And here is a bracket clock needing some more work (aside a service). A post for a lever of the striking work needed to be made (was broken), further the square for the minute hand reconstructed and fitted (had been filed away by some bodger, the seconds hand was missing and the minute hand was fixed to the pipe with a screw, where the seconds hand pipe originally went through), and the missing seconds hand. And a few minor parts, which also missed.
We had quite a few antique clocks in my parents house when I was a young fella. Something quite relaxing about having a lot of old clocks tick’n & tock’n about the place. I have one of them here that I repaired, a wall clock, I’ll get around to taking some pix when I can be arsed.
And finally for the time being, a recent purchase, an unusual Danish clock with day and date from the center. Currently in service, here photos of the condition as found. In the meanwhile everything is reassembled and lubricated. Runs well, but a gathering pallet needs to be made from scratch (missing). This is how a movement looks, which has not been serviced for many decades. Amazingly it still ran. Look at the square screw heads, the threads of the screws having been hand made.
This definitely in @Bill Sohne ‘s wheelhouse, Bill’s so into clocks that he’s almost convinced me to consider a Chelsea ship’s clock on a couple of occasions
I have the perfect spot for them in my house currently with 3 pendulum wall clocks and 1 longcase, my wife wants me to put long cases clocks in the other 3 spots. It's already loud enough on the 1/2 hour chimes ( there are a few more on other walls). Sometimes I think my wife is even more clock mad than me. So far I have resisted but it's been hard because as you say they can be had for not much money if you bide your time, with some excellent 100 to 200 year old clocks popping up
Did someone say CLOCKS? How about tower clocks. This is a Seth Thomas 16A from 1911 which I have maintained for 30 years. Double three legged gravity escapement, strike on the hour and half hour.
I have a similar period Scottish Long case, which has been in the family for generations, but sadly but but no Espada
Verge & foliot, weight driven, likely 13th or 14th century. The earliest tower clocks had no dial or hands, and were used solely to ring bells to summon the faithful to mass. The word “clock” originated from the French word “cloché” which means “bell”. I think I have that right. The subject clock may have been like many early timekeepers, with only an hour hand. Such clocks kept very poor time, so a minute hand served no purpose. Here is a picture of the original clock in Salisbury Cathedral. Believed to have been built by an iron monger, sometime in the 1300s. It had been converted to anchor escapement at one time. It has been restored to verge & foliot. The “modern” tower clock now doing service in the clock tower is from the 19th century. I believe that this is the oldest clock in the world that still runs.
I have a really nice Georgian mahogany bracket clock ca. 1780 by the eminent Eardley Norton of London. He was considered one of the most talented clockmakers in the second half of the 18th century, and is represented in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace where he made a four dial astronomical clock for King George III. This clock has an 8 day triple fusee movement and has its original verge escapement (many of these clocks have had their escapements 'modernized' over the years for better accuracy). It chimes the quarter hours on a nest of eight bells and the hour on a separate bell. It has handles on the side so it could be moved into the bedroom at night and it has a pull repeat cord in the event you wanted to know what the time was in the middle of the night. The back plate has Norton's name and is engraved with scrolls and flowers as was the standard in that era. These were obviously expensive items made for the wealthy. It's been ticking away for many years in my foyer.
OK, I resolve, a roasting jack. Made end of the 16th century and a quite common kitchen machine in better homes in that time. These were a side product of tower clock makers, because the market for tower clocks was rather limited. It is amazing that it survived in such perfect original condition. Quite unusual in case of mine is that it uses a foliot and not a fly, like in the below image, which was rather the standard.
A roasting Jack? Hmm! I find it odd that the thing doesn’t tell time, is weight driven, and is equipped with a fusee! Someone more knowledgeable in the function of a roasting Jack can explain? If it was spring driven, I could understand the need for a fusee.
Well, it is spring driven, the spring is in the large cylindical barrel. Other roasting jacks of later date indeed are weight driven, but the problem is that they obviously need to be hung up high, with the need of mechanical links to get the movement to the floor level. Quite popular in the 19th century and in England were the roasting jacks driven by a so-called turnspit dog.