Waterbury Miniature Ogee Clock - Part 1

I have had this clock for long enough that I seem to have lost the paper work for it. I bought it as an empty case. Actually I just checked a purchase list, and I bought it in summer 2006! At the time I wanted a miniature ogee clock, and I believe I may have had a spare Waterbury shelf clock movement for it. I had only paid 34$ USD for the case, plus shipping. Not such a great bargain based on today's prices, but mini ogees back then would normally sell for 200-300$ USD.

Anyhow, the case had lots of loose or flaked-off veneer, and it needed work.

A few years ago (early 2015), while I was working on a whole bunch of different veneering repairs (http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2015/02/veneer-patching-extravaganza.html) I had glued down the loose sections of the veneer for this case.





Then a few weeks ago I finished the rest of the repairs. This involved gluing another big section that popped off on the door, and patching the missing sections on the veneer. Before I start showing the patches, this is how the clock looked after the 2015 repairs.



The edge uses curved veneer, so I used some of my pre-curved mahogany veneer stock for the patches. Any of the small chips, I did not use wood, I used putty. This is especially good for small chips along the bottom where the veneer is already really dark.



Putty-filled repairs:



Veneer patch on the corner, putty on the chips.



Again, a mix of veneer and putty. Keep in mind that any putty repairs must be touched-up with paint.



Top left corner:



Top right corner:



All the repairs and patches before stain, paint, and touch-ups.



Stain is applied first. Depending what stains you use, how much sanding you did, and what wood was used, the colour may be too light or too dark. It's kind of difficult to predict how certain spots will turn out. For the painted putty areas, those mainly work best on very dark finishes. This case is quite dark brown, so it's pretty forgiving to mix any "close enough" shade of blackish-brownish-reddish paint, and blend that in. I use one or two small paint brushes, but a lot of it is creative finger painting. Water is used to add transparency.



Bottom chips after painting. There are 4 decent sized chips, and a veneer patch in the left corner.



All the repairs and patches were then coated in several layers of orange shellac. The entire case was then buffed down with #0000 steel wool lubricated in dark paste wax. The wax is left to dry and go dull before polishing.

This shows the wax-buffed case just before polishing (so looking quite dull overall).



Here's just a small bit once you start buffing the wax.



Hopefully I can photograph the finished case soon.

Waterbury Niles Gingerbread (Repaired Case)

Here are some photos of the repaired Waterbury Niles clock case. For the repair details, see the previous post here: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2017/01/gingerbread-clock-case-repairs.html

As you can see, the two repaired horns are not EXACTLY the same colour, but they have no stain on them. They do match depending on the viewing angle, so I'm happy with how they came out. Note the new glass transfer (on antique glass), and the new paper dial (lightly distressed). The previous dial was the wrong size, with the time track skirting the edge of the pan.





New grommets were also installed. They are a bit too shiny, but they will eventually dull down. The hand washer is not installed yet, as the movement still needs to be serviced.



The repair from the back side.

Gingerbread Clock Case Repairs

These are two cases that I repaired a short while ago. They are a Waterbury Niles (the lighter walnut one) bought from a yard sale several years ago, and a New Haven "Merchant Line B" (dark oak) bought locally though Kijiji (similar to Craigslist) not long ago.

Both clock cases needed work, but both were purchased quite inexpensively. The Niles was 60$, and the Merchant Line B was 40$.

Let's start with the Niles. This was the clock as-purchased:



Both top "horns" were broken off, the glass had been replaced (no transfer), the dial was awful, and the hands were incorrect. When I got it home I also discovered that it had been fitted with a New Haven movement. The clock is not valuable enough to spend 100$ to swap the movement for a correct Waterbury one, but I still want to fix it up as much as possible.

Because of the swapped movement, I had a very difficult time tracking down the model and maker. The clock has no label remaining (as is often the case with gingerbread clocks), so I had started my search with New Haven examples. I then switched to Ingraham, and I eventually stumbled on a match. This was very important because I did not know what the missing horns looked like.

Here's a good example of a Waterbury Niles (this one fitted with an alarm):



I have a number of different photos, some with close-ups, and I was able to use those as a pattern.

The New Haven had a broken latch, no glass, and the entire case was loose. In addition, both clock cases were missing their triangular glue blocks behind the crests. Here is the New Haven Merchant Line B as-purchased:



It looks almost like the case has been painted black, or been darkened with shoe polish, but I can assure you that even though it doesn't look quite right, the colour is 100% original.

You will have to excuse my slowly dying camera. It has a hard time focusing properly, and it's honestly on its last leg.









The Merchant Line B is a very interesting clock because the same pattern was cut in at least three different shapes with little regard to the actual pressed design. This particular clock has one of the cut designs that makes the most sense. I will eventually make a whole write-up about the clock and show off the variations once the clock is fully restored.

This clock needed the least amount of work. I took the case completely apart aside from the bracket base, and reassembled it with hide glue. I also cut, shaped, and antiqued a new latch for it. The commercially available latches NEVER fit correctly, and they rarely have the same shape. It's far easier and cheaper to just cut one from thin brass stock.



A new pine glue block was cut to match the existing shadow lines. Pine was used because the entire rear box of the clock is pine. If it had all been oak, then oak would have been used. This particular block is quite beefy and thick compared to others. They tend to be quite randomly sized, so try to match what was there.



I was working on both cases at the same time, so ignore the Niles case for now.



The glue block was then antiqued with acrylic paints to match the colour and patina of the case back and sides.

Here are the repairs to the Nile case.

To repair the horns, it was necessary to remove the top crest entirely. I passed the tips in the table saw (very carefully) to get nice straight and flat joints to glue new walnut blocks. In most cases (99% of the time) repairs are done with hide glue for reversibility, but in this case I believe I used carpenter's glue for a more permanent repair. It's up to you to decide what's appropriate during restoration work. This is a fragile area, so I wanted a very strong repair.



The rear glue block was cut from a walnut scrap, and you can see that this one was MUCH thinner than the one on the New Haven clock.



Using Photoshop, I took one of my source images and resized the image to "life size". I did this by cropping the image flush to the sides of the upper crest and then measuring my crest and making the image the same size. Once the photo on the computer is life size, I then overlay a custom sized grid on the image to match some graph paper. The easier way is to just print the life size photo or a cropped section of the photo to use as the pattern, but my printer isn't working. The image was just copied freehand to graph paper for my pattern. The pattern is then cut out of thin cardboard and traced onto the wood.



A quick trim on the scroll saw finishes up most of the repair. This is the part where you need skill with your tools. The cut outs should be sawn ONLY with no sanding or corrections made to them, which means that they need to be cut accurately in one shot. I've cut thousands of patterns over the past decade and a half, so I have plenty of practice at this. If you're attempting a similar repair, have a skilled cabinetmaker cut the pattern for you. It will make a big difference. Sloppy or crooked cuts are incredibly hard to hide, and if you start to sand or file the edges, it will be very apparent in the finished repair because all these clocks were quickly cut and have rough dark edges on them.



The way that the pressed pattern is applied also makes a big difference. An alarming number of people believe that these clocks were "hand carved" but that is very rarely the case. Some of the very early Eastlake period examples are, but they are the absolute minority. 99% of these are pressed the same way as "pressed-back chairs". The wood is basically fed into a press with a large metal punch that imprints the design into the wood. If you look carefully at the designs, you will see that the fibers of the wood are crushed and often splintered at the edges of hard lines.

For this reason, the best way to make these designs is by crushing the wood as opposed to carving it. Any number of household items can be used as punches. The simple lines on this design were made with a used slot screwdriver.



Note the crushed fibers all look the same across the original section and the repair:



Though additional source photos as well as faint shadow lines, I found that this model had rear braces. Apparently Waterbury must have known that these tips broke easily and these reinforcing braces were added early on.



These are just simple walnut sticks with the ends pared down slightly.





The bottom corner on this clock was also separated, so I fixed that with a bit of hide glue and some clamps. This is a tricky corner to clamp, so a wooden scrap was placed along the back.






The finished repairs were sealed with orange shellac (no stain). The final colour matched pretty well, except that the existing walnut does have a bit of sun fading. The new repairs should eventually mellow with a bit of time.

I have no final photos of the clock yet, but I have replaced and antiqued a new Roman dial, installed a glass transfer, and changed the hands. I am quite happy with the results, and I will try to post a photo soon.

Edit: Finished clock was posted here: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2017/02/waterbury-niles-gingerbread-repaired.html

Waterbury Beehive Clock Restoration

This is another restoration project that I just finished this week. This clock has been broken, and in pieces and different boxes for nearly a decade. I originally bought this clock at an auction with my aunt and uncle. It was bought on October 10th 2005.



When I bought the clock originally, it wasn't in the best condition. The finish was still original, but crazed and chipped. There were several veneer chips, and the bottom right corner of the clock was badly broken, and held together with a small wire nail.

As is often the case, I thought I had more "before" photos, but unfortunately I only have a handful.





The clock came with 3 beautiful antique keys, unfortunately, none of them fit the clock correctly. The one on the upper right is close, but a bit of a sloppy fit.











Not too long after getting the clock, I stripped off the old finish, only to discover during the process that the bezel was grain-painted. I was able to very gently remove most of the shellac without damaging much of the paint, but about 1/3 of the original grain paint was lightly damaged.







Since stripping the clock, I've put off working on the case repairs. I did not have any rosewood veneer, and I was dreading the curved veneer repairs. I had the parts labeled and in separate bags (movement, dial, gong spiral) and boxes (wooden chunks, gong base, etc).

Earlier this month, and a little bit at the beginning of 2015, I started making lots of veneer and case repairs on several clocks all at once (with this one in the mix). The case needed part of the dial mask and internal support blocks glued, the base and corner piece reglued, and a little over a dozen veneer repairs.







I was able to repair the grain painting to he bezel quite easily, and the entire case was refinished with traditional orange shellac.







The movement was a standard early Waterbury pinned movement. It was in good shape, with the exception of awful hole-closing punch damage.





Very deeply marked hole-closing punch damage. This was an early repair method that is no longer considered acceptable.



This one makes the least sense. This is the motion works wheel, which carries no tension/force from the works, yet it was the most severely and deeply punched hole. This wheel should never require any bushing wear. It technically doesn't even require oiling. The only work that this gear carries out is to advance the hour hand.





There are also small punch marks on the interior on the worn sides of some pivot holes.



This is the only bushing on the movement. It was poorly made/fitted to the back side of the escape wheel.



The springs seem to be the originals, and they are good candidates for replacement. I chose to leave them in the clock for now to see if it would work as-is, but as it turns out the movement is not in top working condition. I will need to open it up again and install a few bushings as well as replace both springs. For the time being, I'm just happy that the clock is all back together.





The completed clock turned out nicely. It's interesting to note that this is considered a rosewood clock, yet the sides and the dial mask are done in mahogany veneer. This is quite common, and normally under a slightly darker finish the difference is very hard to see. Rosewood was more expensive, so it was only used on the front. Some smaller clocks are sometimes entirely rosewood veneered, so it varies.



Also note: the hour hand is the original, while the minute hand is a modern replacement.



One of the nicest features of the clock is the original tablet in mint condition. There is very minimal paint lift to some of the white, as well as several small dots of missing black (not very visible).



Two large veneer patches. About a one inch section of rosewood at the base of the curve (a nearly perfect match), and a vertical patch in the base.



These two patches are a bit more obvious, since the colour did not turn out as well as some of the other areas.



Three patches here, also a bit more visible. The colours looked great before the shellac. Luckily the rosewood has a wide variety of shades.





There are 3 or 4 patches and glue repairs on the curve here, but mostly just one of them shows (with the diagonal cut). In general it's always better to replace an entire "stripe" of veneer, but this spot was repaired with matching antique veneer, so I opted for a smaller repair. Also note the touched-up grain painting on the bezel.



Original grain painting.







The label on this clock is in excellent condition.



The back of the case bears a label to a Kingston, Ontario watchmaker. There was a pencil inscription on the right, but it is now largely gone. As far as I was able to research, this seems to indicate a repair or service date from around the 1890s. The clock dates from the early 1870s.



Full view of the backboard:



There is an inscription that reads" W. S. Duffett, Adolphustown. I was able to trace this down to a William Sealy Duffett (1837 - 1916) who passed away in Adolphustown Ontario. I wasn't able to find much more information on him other than his wife Mary Adalaide Watson, whom he married in Feb 1884. The clock seems unlikely to have been a wedding gift since the date is too late. By around 1874 Waterbury had changed their movement design to have screws on the front rather than pins.



Additionally this clock came with a note (visible at the beginning) that reads:

CAPT. ALLEN'S CLOCK
E. CATHERINE HARKNESS
5th GENERATION

I can find no relation between any captain Allen and the Duffett family, and without any indication of the captain's first name, there are a number of possibilities. There is Captain Christopher C. Allen (1846 - 1915), Captain Adam Allen (1813 - 1885), Capt John Allen (1837- 1913), and Captain Allen Mackenzie Cleghorn (d.1916), which would all conflict with the Duffett information. I imagine that if this clock belonged to a "captain Allen" it would have been sold to him after Mr. Duffett's death in 1916.

My search for E. Catherine Harkness also didn't turn up any useful results.

The clock was sold to me through an auction from collectors with the last name MacDonald, so I'm not sure how this clock might have been in any way "5th generation". The note may have been with the wrong clock?