Highly Unusual Vienna Clock - Part 2

As you may have noticed in Part 1, the clock was in somewhat shabby condition, with a large chunk of the crown broken off (and missing) in the top left, as well as some breaks to the bottom bracket and a few veneer issues.



Other missing pieces include all the finials (x5) and two top corner blocks (there were square shadows to each side of the centre crest).

The hardest part to replicate was the upper crown moulding piece, but I was able to get a close-enough shape with a few passes of a cove router bit and some saw cuts. The rest was careful sanding. For the bottom moulding, I chose to replace it with a single rectangular piece, rather than rebuild it in 3 sections like it was.



The veneer on the bottom bracket had some damage to both sides. Sadly my camera has been having a hard time lately (it needs to be replaced), so I did not get many good photos of the repairs. This was the worst side. Most of the back edge was badly chipped, so I replaced a full strip. This was difficult to cut and glue. I had to pre-bend the veneer around two forms to shape it into an "S" before I could glue it. The large chip at the top was just puttied. A veneer repair there would have been difficult and unsightly. It was either putty, or remove another inch-wide strip of veneer down the length of the bracket. This is so low on the clock that the repair isn't that visible.





This was followed by a bit more sanding, some dark stain, and a bit of diluted paint to blend the harsh line. I used orange shellac to varnish the area and blend it into the rest of the original shellac. None of the photos turned out so I may try to take new ones later.

After more touch-ups, small chip repairs, a bit of black paint and shellac, this is the finished case:





The clock still has the original old wavy glass with several imperfections.



The clock originally had wall stabilizers, but they were missing, so I installed a sew set. The finials are still being planned/chosen and they'll be shown in Part 3 once they're installed.







For the two little top blocks, I had to make an educated guess as to what they should look like. As I mentioned earlier, there were two square shadows, and a faint circle outline in the centre of the squares indicating finials. I made the blocks from pine and veneered them in some salvaged antique walnut veneer. The ebonized tops were made to match the bottom bracket detail.





You can sort of see the typical German/Vienna case construction detail of the "lock joint" at each corner of the main box.



All it needs now are the finials.

Highly Unusual Vienna Clock - Part 1

Here is a rather lovely clock that I've had sitting around in my "to fix" pile for a while. I bought the clock originally in may of 2009. This was one of those purchases where I bought it largely based on looks and price. The clock was only 99$ USD +shipping, so I thought it was a fairly nice piece (or it could be) with a bit of work.

Please note, these are a mix of newer and older photos.



After it arrived, I started to be really puzzled by it. For the most part, the case seems to be a European product, made from yellow pine or spruce, and veneered in figured walnut with ebonized accents. It also had a bit of woodworm damage, which is something I see frequently in European antiques.

The bottom bracket has beautiful walnut burl veneer.



The movement and the case layout are where things start to get a bit weird.



The case has a false (or double) back, which barely hides behind the dial. This back is meant to hide a spiral gong, which is now missing. The false back is held in place by a single screw into the centre bar (though the backboard).





The movement is unlike any I have ever seen before. At first glance, it looks a lot like a very standard American 8 day movement, but looking closer, a lot of the details are wildly different. As a quick side note: the movement appears to be original to the clock. There are no additional holes anywhere.



I don't know why, but the entire strike train was removed at some point in the past, which is a real shame.



The various parts are all extremely well made. Solid brass, nice thick enamel, etc.



Some chipping around the dial centre was later patched-up.



The dial is all crimped together quite nicely. It just sits over the movement and is fixed in place with 2 small screws.



The screw-fixing method was clearly not an after thought as the enamel was fired with the holes already in place.



Here are more photos of the unusual movement.

Some of the differences:
- HUUUUGE verge. This strip verge is not only wider than the escape wheel, but it's also unnecessarily deep
- Suspension spring post for a double leaf European style spring
- Crutch loop for pendulum rod in an unusual "U" shape
- Unusual motion works setup
- Unusual bridges and brackets
- "I" shaft for minute hand (which is not all that common on this style of 8 day movement (American or otherwise)













The movement seems to point to an Asian manufacture, but it's hard to say for sure. It doesn't feel cheap and flimsy, so if it is Asian made, it is most certainly an older make. I would date the clock to around 1890-1900 but again, it's hard to say. I have found no inscriptions, scribbles, stamps, or any other kind of identifying information on it (aside from the two "30" crayon marks on the 2 backboards). I have also never run across another similar clock since buying this one.

I seem to have a knack for finding rare and unusual pieces. I don't think this one is particularly valuable or desirable, but it's still a rather nice piece. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this clock. If you have a similar example, please contact me.

Trash to Treasure Lantern Clock Project

This is a quick project I decided to make over the past 6 or 7 days. I just finished it this afternoon, and I've been looking forward to sharing it on the blog.



This clock was an ugly duckling from the junky clock haul in early 2015. I had it listed for sale at only 15$, with zero interest. After having worked on both Zaanse clocks recently, I noticed that this clock had the same kind of movement, also made by Hubert Herr. The bell was quite nice, and it was in working condition. The only problem was that it was hideous. This was a nice small movement that was perfect for converting into something better.

Clock before:



The movement is in excellent condition.



The inspiration for this clock is something I've had at the back of my mind for a few years already. I saw this clock years ago made by Simon Douta (dated 1762). It is a simple iron clock with a decorative brass front. More recently I've also really developed a love for comtoise clocks, which share some similarities with the Douta clock. The following collage shows 2 Simon Douta clocks, two early comtoise clocks, and an early painted Germanic chamber clock. These were the inspiration for the clock.



I had a wide assortment of options for lantern crests from some of my clock books, and these were 4 that I considered. For whatever reason, I really liked the one that was "for the Turkish market".



The dial I wanted to use was a donation from Jim Dubois (a clockmaker friend). This engraved dial was originally supposed to be for a tower clock, but it had a flaw on it where one side was engraved deeper than the other half, so he sent it to me as a sample showing silvering using silvering powder. The centre had 3 holes (a hole for the hands, and two screw holes), so I cut away the centre to make a small chapter ring.

With the chapter ring ready, a scale drawing/pattern was made life size. The overall size is 5" wide, and about 9" high.



All the brass sheet that I used for this clock came from a door kick plate. This is thin brass, but still fairly hard and durable. I had bought two of these kick plates several years ago on clearance because they had a damaged corner.



The plate was cut with a regular hack saw, and then hand filed along the edges. No fancy tools here.



The bulk of the tracery was cut with a standard jeweler's saw, but for some of the deeper sections, I had to use another saw with a very deep frame.



Rough cut. Note that this is not 100% perfect. The top centre has an especially bad screw up (two lines that don't meet), and I sawed into the design on the centre inner left leaf. Most of this was corrected by filing.



After filing. Note that I didn't correct the one saw mark into the leaf. I would have had to modify the shape too much, so I left it as-is.



Also note the chapter ring. I did not want to do traditional wax filling, so I used oil paint. I had originally planned to sand the top back to fresh brass and re-silver it fresh, but after having quickly wiped away the excess paint, I kind of liked the old weathered look to it, so I've left it as is. This was a complete accident.



If I were a bit more lazy, I could have reused the old case, but I didn't like the plywood, and I wanted it to match the size of the dial. A new case was made from scraps of pine. The case matches wag-on-the-wall style German clocks. If I had a larger selection of sheet metal, I would have made a metal case and painted it gloss black (like a comtoise).



Movement mounted, dial affixed with two tiny screws (from inside), and centre hole drilled for hands.



I had to make a new bell stand, because the thickness of the pine case did not match with the old one. The threaded rod wasn't long enough. Clock hung for testing.



I liked the Douta hand, so I copied it for the hour hand. The pendulum above, and the hands, were made with the off-cut of the 9 inch brass sheet. For the bob, I mounted a square of brass in my universal face plate (in my watchmaker's lathe) and spun some circles into it. I then domed it by hammering the back side against a piece of pine until it had a nice gentle curve. The cupped sheet was then cut along the outer line and cleaned up with a file. To keep the bob in place, a smaller sized sheet metal circle was cut, and two thin slots were cut into it. This was also domed, and then soldered into place. The wire rod just slips through with a friction fit. The finished pendulum is seen farther down.



The brass hands were blackened and fitted.



The brass front was also blackened for patina. This isn't necessary, but it's a detail I wanted to add. I blackened both the front and back (in order to get all the edges and for everything be even). Then just the front was polished back to a shine (not the edges or the back).

I had a bit of a hard time deciding how to attach the front to the case. Older clocks have either screws through the front, or slots and pins. I decided to use hidden brackets. The bottom one slides over a metal pin, and the top two are screwed down to the case top.





Here's the little pendulum bob. I debated between making a solid brass pear-shaped bob (crown wheel/verge style) and a small flat disc, but I'm happy I went with the disc. The bob was made by taking a square of sheet brass, engraving circle lines into it (on the lathe) and then dishing it by pounding the back side against a piece of pine with a large curved face hammer (a normal hammer). Once the dishing was adequate, it was cut freehand with a jeweler's saw, and the edge was cleaned up with a file. The back side has a similar circle of dished sheet metal, and this has two thin slots in it for the rod. The spacing was done to work with a friction fit. The rear disc was then soldered into place and antiqued.



I left the patina on the bell, and I gave the case a dull black painted finish (semi-gloss).



The weight were the hardest modification on this project. They are the originals, but I did not like the shape of them (see first photo). I removed the hooks, and rounded off the tops in the lathe. I then made new hooks, stripped off the paint, and added black patina to the steel. These are just 7/8" diameter steel rod, and they weigh just about 1 Lb each. They're about the same weight as pine cone cuckoo weights.



So after all this, the clock is finished and running. I do plan to take the movement apart and clean it, but it will also need the chains lengthened. The chains are a standard size, so I will add a length to my next parts order.



I made 4 new brass hoops.







I hope that this post serves as inspiration for what you can make with just a few simple tools. The majority of the parts for this clock were made with just a jeweler's saw and files.