Gustav Becker date

[moe schmidt]

HI: can i get a better date than 1926 when gustav becker sold out. see pictures. i have no serial #. the plate is stamped with trade- mark and the penulum is 14cm. it has the name Silesia on the plate. i beleive that is a place in poland. any information would be appreciated. thanks moe

 

[John Hubby]

HI: can i get a better date than 1926 when gustav becker sold out. see pictures. i have no serial #. the plate is stamped with trade- mark and the penulum is 14cm. it has the name Silesia on the plate. i beleive that is a place in poland. any information would be appreciated. thanks moe

Moe, thanks for posting. The name SILESIA being there happens to be where it was made (actually in Freiburg, Silesia) but that mainly designates a movement quality being that your clock will have solid pinions instead of the lantern pinions common to most of the Amerikaner style movements made in Germany during the early 1900's.

I could not find the exact model case for your clock in any of the GB catalogs we have available, but would estimate it was made after WWI based on the simplicity of design with no trim or decoration. That being the case your clock would have been made between 1919 and 1925. The SILESIA stamp was discontinued at the middle of 1925 prior to the full takeover by Junghans, leaving only the fancy GB anchor logo stamp used from mid-1925 to the end of 1932 when Freiburg was shut down..

There are marks at the left side of your movement back plate including the pendulum length (P14?) and I think a letter stamped above the P number. These are hidden behind the coil gong in your photos. There also appears to be a letter stamp at the far right side of the movement at the same level as the GB anchor logo. Please confirm what you find in these two locations, also if there is any other mark on the movement or case that could be of interest.

 

[moe schmidt]

HI" john i looked again and found a S on the left side above the P 14. on the right side is a H. it does have lantern pinions. the case is made of mahagony. there is no other #s on the movement or case. thanks for the information. have a good day moe

PS the penulum does not look right, is it.

 

[John Hubby]

HI" john i looked again and found a S on the left side above the P 14. on the right side is a H. it does have lantern pinions. the case is made of mahagony. there is no other #s on the movement or case. thanks for the information. have a good day moe

PS the pendulum does not look right, is it.

Moe, thanks for the additional info and photos. The "H" on the right is for "Hohltreiben" which is the German horological word for lantern pinions. I'm still searching for the word corresponding to the "S" but have seen it before on several clocks. The presence of the "H" and lantern pinions places your clock as having been made in early 1925 at the time of the transition from GB to Junghans; prior to 1925 the movement would have had solid cut pinions and no letter stamps either the "S" or the "H". After that the "SILESIA" disappeared but the letter stamps continued.

I agree that the pendulum isn't correct. Actually your clock would have originally had a GB pendulum leader with a keystone shape clasp at the lower end, and the pendulum would have a short rod with the matching part at the upper end, a solid lenticular bob, and the rating nut underneath. Here are some photos from the same basic movements as yours:

The movement photo shows the GB leader in place, the one with the back of the case open shows the pendulum but you can't quite see the keystone clasp. In any event you can see the pendulum bob is on a short rod that fits into the leader clasp.

I think one reason I could not find a catalog illustration of your clock is that it appears the movement and case didn't start life together. Normally the GB mantel clocks have a standing coil gong like the one in the photo I posted, and there is no seat board for the movement. The movement is attached to the dial and has a couple of brackets on the front that are screwed into the front of the case for additional support.

In summary, the good news is that your movement can be accurately dated within the year it was made due to the letter stamps and presence of "SILESIA" under the GB anchor logo. The not so good is that the pendulum and leader aren't correct, and it appears the movement and dial has been installed in a non-GB case. It is still an attractive clock and should run OK.