Japy Happy

The damn Rolez did it to me.

Lusting after a French silk suspension clock. What was I thinking?

Yes I spent(d) too much time on eBay but it's actually a very useful source information on clocks. There's so many posted and a long history of wares as well. Not that everything in an item post can be believed as the gospel. Turned out to be the case here as well...

The fact is most French clocks feel too... gaudy to me. Too ornate. Busy. Just not my cup of tea.

I know they are objects of their time and the truth is that there are some elaborate ones that I like (more on that another time).

But I was struck by this one. I loved the shape, the simple design, the dark black slate. It was listed as:

"Antique French JAPY FRERES Black Slate Exposition 1855 Mantle Clock W Key Works"

Works. Well that sounds good.

The seller did a particularly good job showing all parts of the clock. Both the good and the not so good.

The case had very little damage aside from some spotting on the horizontal surfaces, most notably its top.

Danger Will Robinson?

Other photos in the post showed that overall it really was a lovely clock. The dial in particular was enameled and virtually unblemished save a minor chip on the bottom of the keyhole (a very common spot for chips). Unusually good condition really.

Indeed it appeared to be a Japy Freres, perhaps the biggest name in French clock production. There are many thousands of Japy Freres clocks out there. Many.

See the circular mark on the back plate of the suspension, just to the right of (what I would come to understand to be) the clock model number "3388".

1855. Interesting on several levels.

With that stamp we know the clock was made on or (much more likely) a bit after after that date.

It also highlights that the freres won the Grand Medaille d'Honneur in the Paris Exhibition that year.

Sounds exciting.

Look here at the second item after the family portraits.

Yes this is a legit Japy Freres movement.

This clock is likely 160+ years old. Like pre-Lincoln-presidency old.

And yes it is a silk suspension, albeit the last person who set it up used what appeared to be fishing line instead of silk thread. Too thick and rigid in my opinion.

I touched on this in my Rolez post but to elaborate a little... here's drawing of one of the earliest forms of silk suspensions:

The silk thread is wound around an adjustment rod and then drops down to the suspension rod. It passes through a hole in the suspension rod, loops back up and is tied off at the base of the suspension rod. The pendulum is hooked into the silk thread loop forming a "V."

In a silk suspension the length of the pendulum is the the length of the pendulum rod PLUS the net length of the suspension thread (the net hanging distance of the V from the suspension rod). Turn the adjustment rod and the line gets shorter or longer, thus changing the length of the entire pendulum and that, as you may recall, makes the clock run faster or slower accordingly. In the diagram above we're looking at the back of the movement and the the adjustment would extend forward through the face of the clock where there would likely be a small end protruding to adjust with the small end of a key. Turning that would adjust the clock speed.

Here's an example of such with the adjustment rod protruding from the top of the dial:

Our Japy Freres is similarly designed to enable a speed adjustment but the adjustment rod has moved from above the suspension rod to the left of it and there is now an adjustment wheel added to the rod. This is both a simpler solution and allows adjustments from the back of the clock, keeping the face/dial of the clock simpler and cleaner looking.

Another photo from the original eBay post where I've added some text for exposition here.

See? No Brocot suspension. No metal suspension spring at all.

That is the top of the Japy Freres clock pendulum rod curled into a rough hook around the fishing line which hangs from the suspension rod in the V shape. That large dial and arbor (with the fishing line roughly wrapped around it) is the adjustment wheel/rod. You can see the V of the suspension line but the back of the V of the line is not as well lit but it is visible. It looks like a gray shadow of the front of the V. Furthermore this was set up so the line returns to the adjustment wheel. Generally speaking that is incorrectly configured. Moves too much line with the turn of the wheel.

This Japy Freres version of a silk suspension is an elaboration of the earliest forms. Later clockmakers  introduced suspension springs to the design like so:

This is a later transitional model that extends the silk thread with a metal suspension spring and a lower suspension rod (they are in the red circle). In my early studies I was confused by what amounts to a suspension "spring". Yes it's that flat metal strip that passes through the lower rod). I was expecting something coiled. Nope.

Anyway it is that suspension spring that ultimately was incorporated into the full Brocot suspension mechanism.

One more point on that 1855 makers stamp...

The date also highlights something intriguing.

Another thing I had noted in my earlier post was that French silk suspension springs were quite popular until the Brocot suspension came into play in the 1850's, effectively eliminated the use of silk suspensions quite rapidly. Depending on who you read, it is thought that silk suspensions were effectively toast by the early 1850's yet here is one stamped 1855.

Well, well.

The guy wanted $249 for it.

Yikes.

Do I want to spend that much? It's not in showroom shape.

Could I get those white spots out of the slate? Is this a good price?

Well I watched the thing on eBay and no one bid on it. The listing expired and the seller relisted it.

Again no one bid on it and the seller gave no option to make an offer of another price.

I did some more work on other clocks. I watched. I waited.

The listing expired and the seller relisted it again and brought the price down to $199.

Oh now I'm tempted. But I still wasn't sure.

I had done some research on the stain removal and many other things French clock. I was growing some conviction that I could address the stains without a herculean effort.

Life went by and the listing expired again. No bids.

OMG am I being stupid? Shouldn't I have just bought the thing? I'm practically smitten now.

Jesus I'm a dope. I should have bid.

The seller relisted it again, now at $149.

I'm the only one who bid.

Hope it wasn't a mistake...

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Of course it wasn't!

More to come.