Escapement

Last October I saw a local craigslist offering. Scott and I went over to check it out. 30-ish Matt and his wife lived in a small bungalow in PG. He was running late. We were in no rush. Nice people. He said the clock "ticked but didn't keep good time." The thing is solid slate. Maybe 30 pounds worth. Glass bezel missing. A little scuffed but overall looked nice. No maker's label but peering in the back I noted a few things. Firstly, it wasn't keeping time because it had no pendulum. Matt wasn't aware it needed one. OK. A quick glance saw the distinctive round shape and classic elements of a French movement and there was a maker's mark. Jules Rolez Limited Paris. Not Role x . We haggled. I knew this beastie needed some work but suspected I could make it run. He wanted $140. Settled on $60. Took her home and put her on a shelf for a few months. Didn't do much clock stuff in the cold weather. Spring has sprung and I'm bac...

Every man needs a good work surface. Amiright! This clock fool has been working on a folding table in the garage. Not bad. Not good. Looked around for fancy workbenches. Looked at used. Saw some watchmaker tables. Meh. Then I found this . Didn't start propitiously.   But call me impressed. The directions, labeling, robustness, quality. Came with extra screws for each size. Wow.   Hard to screw it up.   Approximately 4 hours et voila! Built in overhead lamp. Tool drawer. Fused power strip including device charging. The tabletop is 1.5 inch thick hardwood. Weighs nearly 40 pounds by itself. Me like.

She'll fit.    I've learned that many problems with movements will only be revealed with very close inspection. Thus a couple of repairs needed:    Otherwise she appears to be in good shape. The bezel and glass look good too. Now there are a few things missing: Hands A pendulum A back mounting plate Mounting screws to connect the movement to the face A striking gong and a mount I can't actually run much less test the clock without a pendulum. I also knew that the pendulum had to be a very short one. There's not a lot of clearance in that case. The clock won't mount in the case without a back mounting plate. The face and bezel connect with two brackets to the back plate. The movement is screwed down to the face plate. That's how the whole thing sits in the case.    Think finding the right movement was hard? Try finding just the Back Bezel Pate of an Antique Ansonia Round Movement. Found a French one with the right dimensions and y...

For me and for her. I spied this beautiful clock base on eBay: It reminded me of Kelsey and I knew I had to build it for her. Buying it was the easy part. Figuring the rest out... well there's the gift for me. Let's see... it needs... everything. OK... Round movement that will fit in the case. Check. Search eBay. Umm, "Check" was a bit hasty. Many candidates emerged. What kind of movement should I be looking for? Who made the case anyway? A little research confirms that this is an Ansonia Clock, the "Vassar" model circa 1890. There are more than a few round French clock movements available but most of them are too deep. The, ahem, opening on our young lady is a svelte 3-3/4 inches. Her depth is even tighter. 3-1/4 inches front to back but the unit has to fit in a space more like 2-5/8 inches. This will take some careful hunting. Search terms: Antique Round Ansonia Clock Movement Here's a pretty face. Let'...

With our Italian friend I was concerned about the reassembly and tuning of the balance wheel and hairspring. I took my time making notations and boning up on rebuilding such a beastie. There are many new parts for me to learn about with this movement. Here's a well illuminated example of a similar one. Getting the hairspring, balance wheel, pallet and lever to all be correctly aligned and balance post-surgery was causing me to perhaps over-cram for the test. Finally I screwed up my courage and decided to do the disassembly and give this girl a bath. I worked slowly and took a lot of pictures. Many springs, levers, wheels, pallets and more to be realigned later. Finally got it all laid out. A visual inspection revealed a bent hour hand wheel. Careful application of flat pliers remedied that. The strike train mainspring slipped continuously when winding. Here's why. The mainspring had slipped off it's arbor hook. Might have been an earlier, slo...