I spy

Excuse the interruption. Life intervened.

Despite the storm und drang of recent events your local clock hunter continued to keep an eye out for interesting finds.

And here was a photo from a Craigslist yard sale posting a month ago.

Not in search of produce, rather things horological, this internet searcher spied something nonetheless.

Next to the scale.

And here was the other eye-catching photo from the posting.

Intrigued.

The Del Rey Oaks neighborhood has an annual garage sale event that your local horologist has perused with some success in years past.

Hoofing it over there we discovered that the crowds were modest and our quarry was located.

A Seth Thomas. The dial is enamel, not paper, so likely late 19th / early 20th century and in very good shape.

The minute hand missing from the dial was taped inside the rear door. 

The innards looked good too. Quite intact albeit a touch dirty. 

The clock appeared to be completely original. Even the key.

It had also been bushed. A sign of being well maintained, horologically speaking, at least at some point in its life.

With a little TLC this clock might restore very nicely.

Friendly Tobin and Helaine were watching over those of us picking.

"How much for the clock?"

"Would you do $10?"

[stay calm]

"Sure."

Some friendly banter and a deal done.

Back at the shop YLH gave the dingus the once over. It was in very good shape overall. 

Research boy discovered that this particular model was part of the Seth Thomas "City Series" of clocks. Naming clocks after cities of the world was a common practice with many different clockmakers during the late 19th century.

And what was our Seth Thomas named after?

Why the "city" of Wales of course.

The Wales model appears to have been produced from 1900-1906.

Nestled inside our Welsh friend is a higher quality movement than most versions of those found in later Seth Thomas clocks. 

The No. 48R movement is well regarded and features barreled mainsprings. 

As compared to an open (un-barreled) mainspring where the springs can expand dramatically...

NOT our Seth Thomas, rather an Ingraham example of open mainsprings

Having a mainspring seated in a barrel limits the springs expansion thus allowing movements to fit into smaller clock cases and providing many other benefits including eliminating some of the problems that can come from unrestricted mainspring expansion.

This movement also has a speed adjuster which starts from a small rod that extends from the front of the dial to the suspension spring adjustment bridge on top of the movement. The Seth Thomas variation (like those found in nearly all American clocks) is a simpler design than the original patented version from Brocot.

As the adjustment rod is turned from the front of the clock it engages gears on the rear that turn a screw which raises or lowers a sliding brass bridge. The top of the suspension spring is pinned to that bridge. The suspension spring runs down through a slotted fixed slider and its slot is just wide enough to allow the suspension spring to slide up and down but is also snug enough to allow that bridge to work as the effective end of the pendulum. 

As a regular reader might recall YLH has explicated more than once that the speed of a clock varies with the effective length of a pendulum. 

Here's another view with the suspension spring slid out of the slot on the fixed bridge.

Speaking of Monsieur Brocot, there are several aspects of this clock that clearly emulate many designs of French clocks from that era and other clocks of higher quality.

YLH will count off several examples:

1. As noted and pictured earlier the movement utilizes barreled mainsprings

2. As seen directly above, the movement also fitted with that speed adjuster similar to a Brocot version

3. The movement is round vs. rectangular (as pictured earlier with the Ingraham with the open springs)

4. The movement is also held in the case with straps just like a French "Movement de Paris"

5. It also utilizes a high quality, solid anchor in its escapement

Solid anchors are preferred over what became ubiquitous in later Seth Thomas clocks (and virtually every other American clock), the strip style anchor:

Sturdy vs. Cheap

6. Our Welshman also has a high quality and nearly perfect enamel dial vs. a cheaper paper dial

This is a clock made with a number of higher quality features. 

After a careful inspection of the generally well-cared for and perfectly functional movement, YLH made a decision not typical of the hijinks here at the shop. This clock looked good and likely could run for years in its current condition before truly needing an overhaul. 

Let's see if we can fire this bad boy up today. 

Zo, the movement was given a light (ok not that light but not disassembled (sacrilege!)) cleaning and similarly a quick clean of the dial and case.

Et voila!

After a little time testing it's been running strongly for a month now. Excellent timekeeper.