Chelsea Clock Company now using German made Ships bell movements

Hello

For everyone's consideration... I also happen to like Chelsea Marine clocks... Time only , Ship's Bell etc...

Last fall Chelsea changed the verbiage on their website.... They were no longer manufacturing their Long time ( Since 1900) Ship's Bell movement. They have Shifted to "German made movement to Chelsea exacting standards ...."

I have been Chatting about this in a few ClubHouse rooms over the last 2 months...

We have seen limited info and photos ....

The best thing was under the new model numbers in this case for the 8 1/2 Chelsea Clock ... Chelsea has changed the text description saying the Clock now has a German movement... but Chelsea has not updated the photo of the Clock...

Last I checked about two months ago photo of a 8 1/2 Chelsea Ship's Bell of Chelsea Web site


Here is a ebay Seller Selling the "new" in box clock. I asked for a pic of the box to confirm it had the new Stock number.... The seller went ahead and open the box and posted a pic of the new clock in the box...
German movement Ship's Bell in box for sale



As you compare the two photos...


The regulator on the USA made ( late model post 1950) has a "wheel" regulator to the left of the center pinion....
The regulator on the German mande movement is accesed via the " eyebrow" cutout just below the 1 O'clock position...

The Bell STRIKE control on the USA made movement It is hard to see in the first photo but its between the 7 and 8 o'clock on the outside edge of the min track ( you can just barely make out the Bell icon).
The Bell STRIKE control on the German made movement is accessed via the eyebrow cutout below the 11 o'clock position...

I will let the photos below speak of the quality of the two movements....

4L Chelsea USA made movement. These are photos I grabbed from the web.... for educational purposes only...

side view to show how thick the plates are and over all construction...


My favorite is this Illustration that Chelsea you to have on their web site to show off the quality of the 4L movement...




Chelsea German movement...
From what I have found out Chelsea is using a Hermel Ship's bell movement that is signed Chelsea... Chelsea used these is the "Boston ShipStrike" entry level line for many years.... Now that line has gone away.. So the photos I have are from old Shipstrike movements.. from what I have been told is basically the same movement ( with a up-jeweled escapement from 7 to 11 jewels).





You can see the difference level in quality....

The jury is still out as I keep hearing that they still might bring the movement back into production....

I dont even want to get into the fact that it some of the dials are marked " Made in USA" and other have no markings at all ....


At that time Chelsea had two lines with striking ships chimes...


Hi-End was the "Chelsea SHIP'S BELL" line Which was in continuous production since about 1900 till last Fall.. The 4L movement was improved upon over the years ... Top of the line Silver plated brass dials, Blued Steel hands ... etc..
Here are a few pics of them...
Early SB pre 1950 typical regulator slot by 12 o' clock position... dial marked Chelsea SHIP'S BELL .


and a later Example with the upgraded regulator via a micrometric wheel to the left of the center pinon ...
Dial is still marked the same Chelsea SHIP'S BELL....



really has not changed much in over 100 years...

Now on to the Low -end "Boston SHIPSTRIKE" that never had the word Chelsea on the dial That used the German movement shipstrike movement , basically the same movement that every other clock compnay in the world uses for their ships clocks..
here are some of the Boston ShipStike line over the years...
1970s
Basically just signed Boston on the dial... nothing else . The hands are inexpensive stamped and painted black.. simple stamped dial .... just notice the signature eyebrow openings in the dial to adj timing and strike



in the 1980s
Clock is still marked BOSTON SHIPSTRIKE in large letters.... same inexpensive hands but now the dial has raised rim around the winding arbors to make it look like applied groments ( like the Chelsea SHIP'S BELL model)
But the Chelsea name started to appear on the dial ... Small below the 6 oclock position "Chelsea Clock - USA "


The next big change....
Boston name goes away.... Chelsea is now between the winding arbors same inexpensive hands and inexpensive dial. " SHIPSTRIKE MADE IN USA" now between the 7 and 5 o'clock positions in smaller font above min track....




My favorite pic from this era is published in the article written by Hodinkee in 2014 :
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/chelsea-clock-charts-course-for-next-hundred-years


Now If you check the Chelsea Web site ....

The SHIPSTRIKE LINE IS GONE....

What we have left is the "SHIPSTRIKE" in the Chelsea clothing....

Any thoughts?

Good Hunting

Bill Sohne

Great information, thanks. If the movements are now German I wouldn't be surprised if the brass cases are now outsourced as well, making Chelsea just a clock marketing business trading on their history.

I have two Chelsea clocks...a Centennial ships bell from 1997 and a time only, 24 hour dial model in a bakelite case, US Government issued and supposedly it came from a decommissioned missile silo in the Northeast. This clock dates from 1963....smack dab in the Cold War.

Hi @Evitzee

Actually .. they are still hand finishing the cases inhouse.. .same with the dials....

It just a very odd decison from management... From what I hear ... They might decide to use the USA made 4L SHIP'S BELL movement in the larger 8 1/2 inch dial clock and the 6 inch Mariner ... and then use the German movement in the smaller clocks ... 6 inch and 4 1/2 .... Really sad . IT is sad to see someone trying to squeeze $$ by diluting the brand equity ( using the outsourced movement in the " CHELSEA" branded clock).

Best
bill

That would be very confusing to have a cheaper movement in some clocks in order to hit a price point. Damaging to the brand's equity for sure.