As this project nears it's end, I just felt like sharing. I have something of a problem when it comes to broken machines, particularly watches and clocks. They cry out to me, begging to be brought back to life. They don't need to be pretty to catch my attention but they usually need to be rare. This one is certainly rare.

I first saw the clock case sitting at the back of an auction room

I hoped to find a signature on or in the case somewhere. There wasn't one but, on turning it around, something went "clunk" inside ...

Well, I've said many times that this looks like it spent the last 20 years at the bottom of a canal but it still spoke to me. It spoke to me enough to part with £110 for it. I think I would have spent five times that. Getting her home, I broke out various cleaners and started experimenting with the underside of the feet. There's some sort of varnish that had been put on the bare metal which had rubbed through meaning parts were more badly corroded than others. After a few hours with brasso and a cotton cloth she was already starting to show her charms ...
It took something like another 10 or 15 hours to bring up the original finish
Two coats of Renaissance Wax should be enough to prevent any oxidisation.

Meanwhile, the movement went into a bowl filled with WD40. It spent over two weeks being sprayed and gently tickled with a toothbrush.

After a couple of weeks I decided just to throw it in the ultrasonic cleaner ...
Erm ... yeah. It went through that ten times while still assembled just to get to the point that it could be taken apart. I was encouraged by the fact that the striking mechanism turned with a puff of air. Phil turned up a Japy movement (Japy bought Marti somewhere in the 1900s and began making copies of this Marti movement) that he's bought on ebay for £20. He said we should just put that movement in the clock case but I really wanted to at least save and re-use the signed plates. In the end, we were able to take the barrels and springs from the Japy along with two wheels and the adjustment gearing and rebuild the original mechanism. A mounting plate had to be made ...

At this point I started to get really busy with my real job and left the project. In my absence, Phil had fun ... (he still loves me, even if some of his texts said otherwise). He rebushed basically every moving part. Cleaned, serviced and oiled the movement and found a bell that was a perfect fit.

The movement was then re-installed into the case after we searched box after box for some old brass set screws. Phil surprised me again with a couple of hands he'd cut out of a piece of copper plate and a new back door aged to match the case. If you ever need to get a nice patina on copper, Cillet Bang! They should add that to the uses they scream about on the TV ads. It's better than any acid you can buy commercially.

All re-assembled now, she's been running for a good week and is about a minute a day slow. The bell is the cutest ring you've heard, chiming the hours and the half hour.
I am going to hunt period hands tomorrow at which point she'll basically be complete. I'm still wrestling with thoughts of polishing the few scratches on the case, most noticeably on the top of the left "leg". In my heart, I think she's been taken back as far as she should be ... showing her pedigree but also her age.

She'll be starring in one of the fine art auctions in the near future and looking for a nice fireplace to sit over for decades to come.

 

Dammit ... I knew I'd screw up the photos if I made this post on my phone!

 

With all the ingenuity and swear equity that went into this project, I am surprised to hear you talking about parting with it.

 

I think she's bloody gorgeous and I know what these sell for. I know I would never pay that much for a mantle clock. But she's not going to suit my house here and she'll be really out of place at the beach house so she may as well go to a true collector who will really appreciate her ... and I'll get something else to play with for a few more months.

 

That very nice and you got up and running, It is important to save the past good job

 

Fantastic result.

It'll be good to see with a nice set of hands on it.

Not going to use Arthur Johnson?

 

Fantastic project and thanks for posting your work. I too am afflicted with the desire to restore old things, mostly Lionel toy trains from 1946-1970.

 

Did I leave a sticker somewhere in view or was that your Google-Fu? It'll probably go to Mellors. If you want to have a few "oooh" moments, take a look at their catalogue for today and tomorrow. For watches, there's a nice Kriegsmarine; a '65 Explorer (1019?); quite a few other bits, including some special pocket watches. I do love the George II bureau they have up - I think that could(should?) break five figures.

 

Google_Fu. I just loved it when you first posted and found it first hit.

I think it may bring a bit more now than Johnsons got for it.

 

Let's not be greedy -20 times more will be fine