For those who like clocks...

[Lurk41]

Dan S

I just bought my first clock, a Chelsea WWI Navy "aeroplane" clock from 1918. It was an impulsive auction purchase, I just liked the looks and the history. It's running fine, but I'm not sure yet what I will do in terms of displaying it.

Apparently most WWI Navy planes were seaplanes.
https://www.history.navy.mil/conten...photography/wwi/wwi-aviation/aircraft-us.html

As it is linked to vintage plane, maybe at the center of a cut (or not) wooden propeller?

A bit like this https://www.pamono.eu/early-wwi-hispano-suiza-plane-propeller-clock-from-wolseley-motors-1920s or that https://www.ima-usa.com/products/or...lock-named-and-dated-1916?variant=26169785349

 

[Dan S]

Lurk41

As it is linked to vintage plane, maybe at the center of a cut (or not) wooden propeller?

A bit like this https://www.pamono.eu/early-wwi-hispano-suiza-plane-propeller-clock-from-wolseley-motors-1920s or that https://www.ima-usa.com/products/or...lock-named-and-dated-1916?variant=26169785349

Absolutely. A propeller hub mount would be fantastic. I see these on eBay occasionally. I especially like the hubs that have a small piece of the propeller left on the sides.

 

[amcclell]

Here are a few of mine:
Atmos 1960's


400 day plate regulator 1890's


English 7 day Westminster chime


Funky 1960's with newer quartz movement

 

[barmy]

Picked up this aircraft clock locally. I have no idea what it's function is, but I thought it looked neat.

 

[WestCoastTime]

Chelsea Car Clock from Jay Leno's White Model M steam car.

The video is not really horology related, but the mechanical timepiece folks might share an interest in steam engines... ;-)

 

[Canuck]

Fritz

I've got a clock... an ex CNR Seth Thomas, I use it to set my watches (yeah... its that good) I check it against the USNO clock.

@Fritz ,

Your Seth Thomas regulator is a model 17. Very collectable! I just finished a whole bunch of work on a model 17 for a friend who is the director of the Revelstoke Railroad Museum. This one was bought from a railroader who (it’s a long story), acquired it from a retired railroader for a good price (his words). His clock showed all the evidence of a clock some ham-fisted bungler had worked on, trying to make it run. He failed! What a mess! It’s okay now, and I’ll run it out of the case for a while, then in the case for several weeks. He’ll likely have it back in February.

 

[Fritz]

Canuck

@Fritz ,

Your Seth Thomas regulator is a model 17. Very collectable! I just finished a whole bunch of work on a model 17 for a friend who is the director of the Revelstoke Railroad Museum. This one was bought from a railroader who (it’s a long story), acquired it from a retired railroader for a good price (his words). His clock showed all the evidence of a clock some ham-fisted bungler had worked on, trying to make it run. He failed! What a mess! It’s okay now, and I’ll run it out of the case for a while, then in the case for several weeks. He’ll likely have it back in February.

They are a lovely and simple movement. I got to know mine before I inherited it from my parents. My Dad lovingly ran and maintained the clock for years and treated it with the respect it deserved. Unfortunately when he got into his nineties and his mind had faded he no longer knew how fragile these things could be and so he didn’t stop my Mom when she decided the bob on the pendulum needed polishing. The pendulum broke loose and, on its way to damaging the adjuster against the bottom of the case, it snagged to weight and heavily damaged the winding / maintaining mechanism. I had a lot of fun getting the poor thing right again.

Dad was on the railroad for 41 years so there’s a lot of family history in that clock and the Ball / Seth Thomas that hangs downstairs.

 

[Canuck]

Fritz

They are a lovely and simple movement. I got to know mine before I inherited it from my parents. My Dad lovingly ran and maintained the clock for years and treated it with the respect it deserved. Unfortunately when he got into his nineties and his mind had faded he no longer knew how fragile these things could be and so he didn’t stop my Mom when she decided the bob on the pendulum needed polishing. The pendulum broke loose and, on its way to damaging the adjuster against the bottom of the case, it snagged to weight and heavily damaged the winding / maintaining mechanism. I had a lot of fun getting the poor thing right again.

Dad was on the railroad for 41 years so there’s a lot of family history in that clock and the Ball / Seth Thomas that hangs downstairs.

A simple movement, yes! But the difference between running and not running can be thousandths of an inch. I have spent probably ten hours sorting out all the damage inflicted by some duffus, before my friend acquired the clock. Canadian Pacific Railway started divesting themselves of these clocks, likely during the 1930s or ‘40s. If you acquire one that had always been maintained by CPR dedicated technicians, they are usually in reasonable condition. It’s when they fall into the hands of amateurs that the damage happens. I’ve worked on lots of these, most of them in good shape. Most of them owned by CP, (yes, they still have a few of them), or retirees who have obtained them from CP. This one has been a challenge!

 

[barmy]

WestCoastTime

Would love to see some movement pictures.

Here is a picture of a movement in the St. Lawrence model

 

[Fritz]

So... hanging on the wall in the family room is a pretty little Seth Thomas banjo clock from the 1930s. I got it in its original box a few years back and after having it serviced ran it for a while before it stopped. The most likely issue is straw in the movement as thats what the clock was shipped in, the damn box is full of it, and it got into the clock’s case.

last week I’m walking by the clock and I hear it ticking, I guess the straw in the works finally dried or crushed enough to let the wheels turn so it started back up... on its own... weird! Its now been reset, wound the rest of the way up and is keeping good time.

a solid 9.5 on my weird shit-o-meter.

 

[Canuck]

We like clock pictures! Running again, after too long being on the “Fritz”.