And now for something

Three years ago this month a listing popped up.

"Antique, single weight clock, originally $300, needs tuning, $90".

Emails exchanged and your local horologist learned that Steve lived less than a mile away.

OK then.

A pleasant fellow who moved to the area about 15 years ago, Steve ushered this clock hunter into his attractive home and right there on the wall was this beauty.

YLH thought the clock looked to be about 42 inches tall give or take (Steve's thermostat as a sizing reference). 

The style of this clock is known as a Vienna Regulator and it looked completely original and intact. Vienna Regulators are famous for their higher quality movements (more on this later).

It is a single weight (powered by a weight (vs. a spring)) timepiece (time only, no striking or chiming).

How to tell it's a timepiece right away?

One winding hole on the dial. 

And for future reference... Two holes = Time and Strike. Three holes = Time, Strike and Chime.

Recent readers might remember Charlene's Ingraham Regulator timepiece clock, a very different style and the term "Regulator" was printed right on the case glass. We'll come back to all this.

Steve bought the clock in Colorado in the 1970s. 

He had the receipt!

Lightly redacted

Great that he kept it.

But Steve didn't remember when it was last serviced.

While YLH was doing a gentle inspection... inside the case door...

And they're still in business!

"Yeah that might be the last time it was serviced... it runs for a minute then slowly stops. I noticed it a couple years ago."

Hands shaken and cash exchanged. Back to the shop.

A somewhat deeper inspection ensued. 

Despite perhaps not being serviced in over 20 years, regardless Steve kept the clock in good shape overall. Light dust and little grime. Everything looked original.

There was no name on the dial nor anywhere else on the clock or its the movement. Not typical but not at all uncommon.

Vienna's have a classic design where the dial almost seems to float in the case with no obvious form of support when facing the clock.

The dial is pinned to the movement which slides on its rack onto a bracket attached to the case of the clock.

See those two protruding arms of the bracket? They serve as rails as the clock movement has a rack with plates that slide into and along those rails. There are slots in those rails. The rails act as a shelf for the movement and there is a screw to lock the plate to the rail.

Looking up inside the case at the bottom of the movement.

By removing the plate locking screw the whole movement can slide in and out of the bracket like a drawer.

Doing so YLH proceeded with the inspection.

There were matching copies of what is very likely the serial number found on the back plate and behind the dial. A very good sign that this is a complete clock with no substitute parts.

That the serial number is in the six figures suggests a major clock manufacturer but more than a few of them, especially in the early days, did not include makers marks (trademarks).

Earlier YLH noted this was a timepiece and they are a favorite of this horological hack.

The number of wheels in a timepiece is minimal because there is only a time train of wheels. A wheel train is a set of wheels for a function of the clock. Each major function (time, strike and chime) has its own wheel train. In our timepiece there are no trains for striking or chiming.

And inspecting the movement from the side shows only 4 wheels and the anchor between the plates. 

YLH removed the hands and the dial from the movement.

Below we have a front facing view of the movement so we are looking directly at the front plate. The dial lays over it.

The each of the four wheels and the anchor end in either a pivot in the plate (the pivot is the slender tip / end of the wheel) or an arbor which extends outward through the plate (and through holes in the dial) for a function of the movement (e.g. connecting hands or winding or sometimes other things).

Those other wheels connected to the outside of the front plate are the "motion works" for turning the hour and minute hands. For some reason they are not referred to as a motion train. YLH knows not why. Motion "works" is very much the standard. 

Perhaps YLH will elaborate on the actions of the motion works on another day. Regardless, off they went.

Meanwhile here's a pair of images showing the wheels in place (the anchor had already been removed) and the arbors protruding below.

As this horological writer was working on this post it occurred to him that this next image was one of the clearest examples he has created depicting how the wheels (gears) connect to the pinions (small gears) of the next wheel and how the gearing steps the power down and the speed up along the train of the movement. 

The the wheel train was removed and each individual wheel inspected. They all looked in very good condition. 

Still no sign of who made this clock.

Hmm...

Well kids...

YLH will continue his story of the Vienna in our next outing.

We'll talk about the English clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy and his famous escapement, the Vulliamy.

And other things.

Come back and join us and you will be rewarded with a spider goulash.