Hello, everyone!
I'm a grandfather clock-obsessed novice. Since finding a Herschede in a Goodwill for $20 in 2020, I have been obsessed with grandfather clocks. I am a musician and educator and have no background in grandfather clocks, but found that I, somehow, just "get" them. I have been able to get over 20 grandfather clocks working despite zero education... besides that from you fine, fine people.
I have incredible clock luck... most of the clocks I've bought or received that "didn't work" actually DID work, and needed just a few of the simple things you all know they typically need. But occasionally, I have gotten in over my head. Urgos 32596 and its immediate relatives have been... um... thwartatious. ANYWAY.
Recently, I found a sale of a HUGE amount of clock stuff on Facebook Marketplace. Wisely, I only brought enough cash to buy a clock that was different from any clock I had seen of its age. I love German round-tops, and own an ISGUS (which once fell over, completely exploded, but was able to be reassembled, and still worked). The clock on Marketplace caught my eye because it looked like a roundtop, but then, upon examination... didn't. It was weird. So, I bought it.
When I got it home and opened it up, I was shocked and amazed. I'm no horologist... and I've only worked with about 30 clocks overall... but I had never seen what I saw. The movement is... reversed. The strike train is on the chime side, and the chime train is on the strike side! I started scouring the Internet... I couldn't find a single example of this.
And, the case has no markings on it that would indicate what it was (although I thought it was somewhat Enfield-esque). The movement kind of reminds me of Jauch a bit, but is also unmarked. The ONLY marking in ANY of it is the telltale "FOREIGN" stamped on that weirdly-modern dial.
So, I was wondering if anyone has seen a backwards movement like this... and whether anyone has any idea what it is.
The movement is very dirty, and it didn't want to work, at first. I did the ol' pivot scrape and re-oil, which got everything kind of working... but there must be terrible friction in the wheels because they are so dirty. The time train works, but only for a short time. It didn't have the leader or suspension spring, so I improvised with parts from an old Jauch movement that seemed to fit. The pendulum is a bit loose in the leader, but seems to work okay. I suspect that I am finally going to have to take a movement apart and clean it right... which fills me with terror.
I'm a grandfather clock-obsessed novice. Since finding a Herschede in a Goodwill for $20 in 2020, I have been obsessed with grandfather clocks. I am a musician and educator and have no background in grandfather clocks, but found that I, somehow, just "get" them. I have been able to get over 20 grandfather clocks working despite zero education... besides that from you fine, fine people.
I have incredible clock luck... most of the clocks I've bought or received that "didn't work" actually DID work, and needed just a few of the simple things you all know they typically need. But occasionally, I have gotten in over my head. Urgos 32596 and its immediate relatives have been... um... thwartatious. ANYWAY.
Recently, I found a sale of a HUGE amount of clock stuff on Facebook Marketplace. Wisely, I only brought enough cash to buy a clock that was different from any clock I had seen of its age. I love German round-tops, and own an ISGUS (which once fell over, completely exploded, but was able to be reassembled, and still worked). The clock on Marketplace caught my eye because it looked like a roundtop, but then, upon examination... didn't. It was weird. So, I bought it.
When I got it home and opened it up, I was shocked and amazed. I'm no horologist... and I've only worked with about 30 clocks overall... but I had never seen what I saw. The movement is... reversed. The strike train is on the chime side, and the chime train is on the strike side! I started scouring the Internet... I couldn't find a single example of this.
And, the case has no markings on it that would indicate what it was (although I thought it was somewhat Enfield-esque). The movement kind of reminds me of Jauch a bit, but is also unmarked. The ONLY marking in ANY of it is the telltale "FOREIGN" stamped on that weirdly-modern dial.
So, I was wondering if anyone has seen a backwards movement like this... and whether anyone has any idea what it is.
The movement is very dirty, and it didn't want to work, at first. I did the ol' pivot scrape and re-oil, which got everything kind of working... but there must be terrible friction in the wheels because they are so dirty. The time train works, but only for a short time. It didn't have the leader or suspension spring, so I improvised with parts from an old Jauch movement that seemed to fit. The pendulum is a bit loose in the leader, but seems to work okay. I suspect that I am finally going to have to take a movement apart and clean it right... which fills me with terror.
