Introducing myself

[rgmt79]

Hi, my name is Richard Taylor, I'm originally from the UK but currently living in the Czech Republic in the City of Brno (close to Austrian border and Vienna). I'm retired and rekindling my interest in old clocks. I dabbled many years ago but 'life' got in the way. There are a few antique shops in Brno and when browsing in one of them a few weeks ago I stumbled across a couple of old wall clocks. They were together just leaning against a wall gathering dust. I realised that they were both 2 weight 'vienna regulator' style and the shop owner was not able to tell me much about them. I took some photo's and after some research I discovered that one of them was definitely a Gustav Becker. Anyway, I went back and offered significantly less than he was asking and did a deal on both clocks on the basis that I was buying them 'as seen'. Having got them home, it became clear they were both Gustav Becker and from the markings on the movements, one dated from 1880 and the other 1890. I was mainly keen on the attractive case of what turned out to be the 1890 clock, but the face is quite worn. The other case is dull in comparison but I fell in love with the clock face and the decorative wights and pendulum. You can see from the photo's I have posted here. I have now mounted both clocks to see if they are working. The 1890 clock seems to work fine, but a little off beat...the movement is complete and quite clean compared with the older clock. I couldn't try the older clock because the top 'hinge' (not sure of the correct name) is broken...it looks like someone tried to remove the movement from the clock case without disconnecting the pendulum and not realising that the top 'hinge' is actually part of the mounting plate and not part of the movement. I intend to restore both clocks to their original glory. I would be interested if anyone here is familiar with these movements and how best to approach the job...I will post more detail photo's of the movements in another post...

[Arutha]

Hi and welcome to the forum
The "top hinge" is the suspension spring. They are fairly easy to find and replace.
Lovely pair of Viennas!
Paul.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome to the forum. Nice clocks for sure.

[willofiam]

Hello, welcome, they will be a fun project. William

[rgmt79]

Thanks guys I have a question, I'm trying to fathom out how to adjust the beat..In his video, Bob talks about bending the crutch, but that does not appear to be an option on the GB movements in my clocks...the whole mechanism seems quite complex with what appears to be a number of adjustment knobs...see photo's. Does anyone have any experience in setting the beat with this type of movement? Comments greatly appreciated...

[willofiam]

It looks like you would loosen the larger knob a bit then grab the 2 similar smaller knobs and twist to make the adjustment, the post in the slot should move back and forth then for beat adjustment, retighten the larger knob to keep it in place. similar concept as bending the crutch, though not bending anything. Hope that makes sense. William

[willofiam]

looking again at the photos the larger knob may not have to be loosened.

[rgmt79]

Thanks William, yes I see what you are saying, in fact there is no need to loosen anything, on closer inspection, I see that there is a belleville spring washer under the head of the central 'black' screw which creates a friction device and as you say, the post moves within the slot by twisting the outer small knobs which are fixed to the arm. Richard

[willofiam]

Excellent...yes these type of beat adjusters (not sure of exact name for them) are a nice feature, William

[rgmt79]

Finally I have restored one of the movements. Thankfully it was not necessary to insert any new bushes, but I stripped the movement down and gave it a thorough cleaning. I'm very happy that it now works 'like clockwork' The only task remaining before I put it back in its case is to synchronise the rack and snail striking mechanism with the hands. Does anyone have any experience on how to do this with this Gustav Becker movement? I'm sure I can play around to get it set up right, but I'm sure there must be an simple process for this, which I'm yet to fathom... pics attached...

[Arutha]

If you look at the end of the rack you will see a pin sticking through it, this lands on the "snail"which is on the hour pipe. The main thing is to check on the 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock that the pin is landing in the correct position and it is striking the correct amount of times. If it needs adjusting you will need to take the hands back off and turn the hour wheel round a tooth or two to get the rack tail landing in the correct place.
Hope that makes sense?
Paul.

[rgmt79]

Thanks Paul, yes that makes sense, but I have already followed the advice from another forum suggesting the simplest solution is to remove the minute hand and rotate the brass mounting bush a little to bring the hand to the correct position (I used a screwdriver with the blade across the corners of the square hole to do this, while gripping the hand with a pair of pliers), it's a little bit trial and error requiring 3 attempts to get it just right...seems like cheating, but it works

Now I have another problem. The clock is running slow by about 5 mins per day. I tried to adjust for this by raising the pendulum bob up a bit, but after few swings of the pendulum, the movement stopped. Does anyone know why this happens? I can't imagine that this would effect the beat or am I missing something here?

Richard

[rgmt79]

Can anyone comment on this please:

"Now I have another problem. The clock is running slow by about 5 mins per day. I tried to adjust for this by raising the pendulum bob up a bit, but after few swings of the pendulum, the movement stopped. Does anyone know why this happens? I can't imagine that this would effect the beat or am I missing something here?"

I just tried raising the bob by just half a turn on the adjusting screw and it stopped again after a few minutes...I don't understand the logic of what is happening here...

[Arutha]

[rgmt79]

Thanks Paul, I'm assuming that because the clock is running ok, albeit around 5 mins/ day slow, the beat must be ok too...perhaps that's a false illusion? Maybe I should move the pendulum bob up by 5 complete turns (It has been suggested that one complete turn is equivalent to 1 min/day) and then try to adjust the beat again. The brass fitting at the top of the rod is attached ok and the bob is not flopping...the swing is nice and smooth.

I have already serviced the movement (see start of this thread) by stripping it down and giving it a thorough cleaning and re-oiling as appropriate on re-assembly. I checked the pivot holes and could not see any obvious signs of wear. The gear chains were spinning freely without any signs of binding or obstruction.

One other thing did ocurr to me: I did not dissassemble the escapement pallet assembly (each pallet is held in place by 2 scews) before cleaning...maybe they need some adjustment, but I don't know how to check this...I am assuming that if the movement is running ok at the current settings, then that is ok too?

Richard

[Arutha]

In your last post you said you tried adjusting the bob and the clock stopped? Is the clock now running ok? If so I wouldn't touch the pallets unless you know how to set them up? If the clock is losing 5 minutes per day raise the bob up by about a turn and a half and see what happens.
Paul.

[rgmt79]

I'm not sure what was wrong, but I stripped down the escapement mechanism added a little oil to the contact faces on the wheel (I forgot to do that the first time) and now everything is working just fine and it keeps good time Pictures show the fully restored clock...

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IMG_6178.JPG (34.1 KiB) Viewed 10883 times

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sounds like you have the clock running well. A beat meter would be a great help in getting these clocks in beat. As for taking the pallets apart for cleaning I would not go there unless you are well versed and have experience in doing this. Even the smallest adjustment can put the escapement completely out of source and the clock will not run at all. If it was running before then I doubt that would be your problem.

[willofiam]

Hey Richard, a bit of grit and grime and lack of oil on the escapement will cause a clock to stop, I have seen this many times. Glad you found that out. Very nice looking clock, great job. William

[rgmt79]

It's been a while since I last posted on here. I'm pleased to say that my 2 clock project was completed with the 2nd Gustav Becker clock up and running sweetly for a few months now...I will post a video if someone can tell me how please?

In the meantime I have purchased this Seth Thomas clock on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/seth-thomas-wal ... 7675.l2557

You can see from the photo's that it's in bits. I'm not familiar with this movement, so any tips and advice very welcome as I attempt to get it working again. First of all, can anyone advise if there are any parts missing? Is the pendulum original? The top end attachment does not seem to match the suspension rod!!

Richard