Hungarian made unusual clock

[David E]

I wanted a Hungarian made clock for my collection, but not one of the post-war mass produced ones. This is made by Imre Gabor (locally the surname comes first). I've not found any information about the maker though, I am guessing it is a one-off. The maker's name is on the face, on the inside case, and on the mechanism (name and initials). Unusually it has 4 wind-up keys; time, bell, gong and music-box, it has days of the month with a small date hand and second hand (fallen off inside).
The ex owner has a nice collection, but he seems to keep them not-running; he did know anything about the older history of the clock. Unfortunately someone stuck some 'burned pine' on the nice oak case, probably to cover something up I guess; I hope I can get it back to the oak finish!
The mechanism looks rather oily and none of the bells work properly; it needs a good cleaning and checking over with repairs to the bell mechanisms, but it keeps good time, even with a 3 hour drive to get it home. The time, gong and bell are the 3 keys on the back for winding up. The music box has a small hole in the base of the clock, so needs to be turned over to get at it (music plays very nicely).
My guess is that the maker was probably a clock repairer who made this as an advertisement, it has the feel of a 'one-off' clock.
Based on the mechanism and design, I am guessing a date of approx 1920 (any comments?).

 

[David E]

I wanted a Hungarian made clock for my collection, but not one of the post-war mass produced ones. This is made by Imre Gabor (locally the surname comes first). I've not found any information about the maker though, I am guessing it is a one-off. The maker's name is on the face, on the inside case, and on the mechanism (name and initials). Unusually it has 4 wind-up keys; time, bell, gong and music-box, it has days of the month with a small date hand and second hand (fallen off inside).
The ex owner has a nice collection, but he seems to keep them not-running; he did know anything about the older history of the clock. Unfortunately someone stuck some 'burned pine' on the nice oak case, probably to cover something up I guess; I hope I can get it back to the oak finish!
The mechanism looks rather oily and none of the bells work properly; it needs a good cleaning and checking over with repairs to the bell mechanisms, but it keeps good time, even with a 3 hour drive to get it home. The time, gong and bell are the 3 keys on the back for winding up. The music box has a small hole in the base of the clock, so needs to be turned over to get at it (music plays very nicely).
My guess is that the maker was probably a clock repairer who made this as an advertisement, it has the feel of a 'one-off' clock.
Based on the mechanism and design, I am guessing a date of approx 1920 (any comments?).

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[David E]

I attach a short MP4 video of the music box.

 

[JTD]

I wanted a Hungarian made clock for my collection, but not one of the post-war mass produced ones. This is made by Imre Gabor (locally the surname comes first). I've not found any information about the maker though, I am guessing it is a one-off. The maker's name is on the face, on the inside case, and on the mechanism (name and initials). Unusually it has 4 wind-up keys; time, bell, gong and music-box, it has days of the month with a small date hand and second hand (fallen off inside).
The ex owner has a nice collection, but he seems to keep them not-running; he did know anything about the older history of the clock. Unfortunately someone stuck some 'burned pine' on the nice oak case, probably to cover something up I guess; I hope I can get it back to the oak finish!
The mechanism looks rather oily and none of the bells work properly; it needs a good cleaning and checking over with repairs to the bell mechanisms, but it keeps good time, even with a 3 hour drive to get it home. The time, gong and bell are the 3 keys on the back for winding up. The music box has a small hole in the base of the clock, so needs to be turned over to get at it (music plays very nicely).
My guess is that the maker was probably a clock repairer who made this as an advertisement, it has the feel of a 'one-off' clock.
Based on the mechanism and design, I am guessing a date of approx 1920 (any comments?).

View attachment 759368 View attachment 759369 View attachment 759370 View attachment 759371 View attachment 759372 View attachment 759373 View attachment 759374 View attachment 759375

Jaj! Mit lehet mondani?! Wow, what can I say? Some clocks are described as 'marriages', this looks more like a shot-gun wedding. But the maker was certainly ingenious and was determined in his efforts; whether he achieved the results he was looking for I am not sure.

The dial is a good example of high Jugendstil/art nouveau. I suppose it may date from about 1890-1910 or thereabouts. I don't know what the original case was like under the ' burned pine' cover, but I suspect the dial was from an older clock.

The movement seems to be made up of at least two pieces put together. I suppose the part with the balance wheel may originally have been mounted the other way up but here it is in this position in order to try to operate some of the bell system. At first I thought that the producer of this clock wanted a 'Vienna strike' which would account for the coiled gong and the bell. But then I see there is an alarm setter on the dial, so maybe that uses the bell?

The hands are rather strange and don't match and the alarm set hand (if that is what it is) is much too long. What is supposed to point to the dates?

Somehow I doubt that this was made by a clock repairer 'as an advertisement' - what exactly would he be advertising? I think it more likely to be the product of an ingenious person in his garden shed, (perhaps while listening to the old song 'Szomorú vasárnap' on the radio!)

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be unkind or disparaging about your clock. It is certainly interesting, unusual, definitely one-of-a-kind and if you get it to work properly it will surely be a triumph of your skill as a restorer and an undoubted talking point; if I had come across it I might have bought it myself, just because of those unusual characteristics. However, there are some very nice Hungarian clocks from early to late 19th century that would be better examples to add to your collection. They are often signed by the maker with his name and town and some have very nice cases.

The music box is working nicely, I don't recognise the tune but it is lively and pretty.

Please let us know how you get on and what you find underneath the pine cladding.

JTD

 

[David E]

Jaj! Mit lehet mondani?! Wow, what can I say? Some clocks are described as 'marriages', this looks more like a shot-gun wedding. But the maker was certainly ingenious and was determined in his efforts; whether he achieved the results he was looking for I am not sure.

The dial is a good example of high Jugendstil/art nouveau. I suppose it may date from about 1890-1910 or thereabouts. I don't know what the original case was like under the ' burned pine' cover, but I suspect the dial was from an older clock.

The movement seems to be made up of at least two pieces put together. I suppose the part with the balance wheel may originally have been mounted the other way up but here it is in this position in order to try to operate some of the bell system. At first I thought that the producer of this clock wanted a 'Vienna strike' which would account for the coiled gong and the bell. But then I see there is an alarm setter on the dial, so maybe that uses the bell?

The hands are rather strange and don't match and the alarm set hand (if that is what it is) is much too long. What is supposed to point to the dates?

Somehow I doubt that this was made by a clock repairer 'as an advertisement' - what exactly would he be advertising? I think it more likely to be the product of an ingenious person in his garden shed, (perhaps while listening to the old song 'Szomorú vasárnap' on the radio!)

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be unkind or disparaging about your clock. It is certainly interesting, unusual, definitely one-of-a-kind and if you get it to work properly it will surely be a triumph of your skill as a restorer and an undoubted talking point; if I had come across it I might have bought it myself, just because of those unusual characteristics. However, there are some very nice Hungarian clocks from early to late 19th century that would be better examples to add to your collection. They are often signed by the maker with his name and town and some have very nice cases.

The music box is working nicely, I don't recognise the tune but it is lively and pretty.

Please let us know how you get on and what you find underneath the pine cladding.

JTD

Many thanks for the very helpful points! Any clock that needs to be turned over to get a key in a small hole in the base, has to be a bit odd! The date hand is just-about visible in the more magnified picture of the face, just below the hour hand (easily confused with the shadow of the small hand) - it is a simple straight hand, not decorative at all.
The pine cladding came off this morning, I found the glue got tacky when wet, so I gently watered it then had breakfast , after which I carefully levered off all the bits then dried it off. I will clean off the glue tonight and make some pictures; the oak grain on the top is very nice, so it is a shame someone thought they could improve on it! The joints between the oak parts are not 'bad' but some are not professional (careful use of wax filler should fix the parts where there is a small gap - it will look much nicer than the burned pine anyhow!).

I have not taken any of the mechanism apart yet, but I can see the snail keeps going round once it starts, the lever does not drop to stop it (probably oil and dirt stopping it dropping). The lever that allows the music box to start seems to work OK (but I need to open the mechanism to see what is supposed to trigger it). The bell is fully wound but does not start by anything I have tried from the parts I can reach - so again, until opener I do not know what is wrong.

 

[JTD]

Ah yes, I see the date hand now. Glad to know the pine cladding came off without much trouble - would be good to see what the original case looked like if you have time to post a photo or two.

Keep us up to date with how you get on.

JTD

 

[David E]

Ah yes, I see the date hand now. Glad to know the pine cladding came off without much trouble - would be good to see what the original case looked like if you have time to post a photo or two.

Keep us up to date with how you get on.

JTD

The glue had damaged the finish on the oak, so rubbed down with 0000 steel wool and rubbing alcohol. I will need to touch up the stain a bit, then give it a good waxing. It looks as if it will be good once finished (only cleaned the top so far). Glad to see the back of that burned pine though!

 

[JTD]

The glue had damaged the finish on the oak, so rubbed down with 0000 steel wool and rubbing alcohol. I will need to touch up the stain a bit, then give it a good waxing. It looks as if it will be good once finished (only cleaned the top so far). Glad to see the back of that burned pine though!

That will look very fine when finished - congratulations!

JTD