identify old Austrian or German clock, brass gears, wooden plates

[DanGrayson]

Can anyone help identify the maker and vintage of this clock, which we have just encountered? The signature looks German,
but it's hard to make out the letters, even though I have some familiarity with the old script. Perhaps something like:

Leredist Haller
in
Güttenbach

, but the name doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe someone with more affinity for the German language can make it out.

There is a place called Güttenbach in Austria, but I don't know whether clocks were ever made there.

 

[JTD]

but the name doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe someone with more affinity for the German language can make it out.

The words say Benedikt Haller, in Gütenbach. Gütenbach is a town in the Black Forest region of Germany, many clock makers round there, and many Hallers too!

But I congratulate you, very few people can read the Kurrentschrift nowadays, even Germans. I can read and write it but I am old, so I am happy that you can do so as well.

JTD

 

[Steven Thornberry]

The words say Benedikt Haller, in Gütenbach. Gütenbach is a town in the Black Forest region of Germany, many clock makers round there, and many Hallers too!

Any possible connection to the Schwenningen Hallers?

 

[JTD]

Any possible connection to the Schwenningen Hallers?

There might well be, Gütenbach is near Furtwangen and only about 20 miles from Schwenningen.

But the Haller name is so common in those parts, it would take major research to find out - unless someone has researched Benedikt H. already.

JTD

 

[DanGrayson]

The words say Benedikt Haller, in Gütenbach. Gütenbach is a town in the Black Forest region of Germany, many clock makers round there, and many Hallers too!


JTD

Thanks!!! I've written an email to the Haller Uhrenfabrik, asking them if they know Benedikt to be a family member back then.

 

[DanGrayson]

Haller Uhrenfabrik replied -- they think he's not part of the family.

 

[JTD]

Haller Uhrenfabrik replied -- they think he's not part of the family.

Thanks for posting this update - I am not really surprised, Haller is a very, very common name in that area. But it is nice to have this extra information.

JTD

 

[Ralph]

It looks like an American case, probably made in Pennsylvania. It’s not uncommon to find this type of movement in these locally made cases.

Ralph

 

[DanGrayson]

Here's an additional mark on the same clock. Does anyone recognize it?

 

[DanGrayson]

It looks like an American case, probably made in Pennsylvania. It’s not uncommon to find this type of movement in these locally made cases.

Ralph

The family tradition has it that grandpa brought the clock with him from England.

 

[JTD]

Here's an additional mark on the same clock. Does anyone recognize it?

View attachment 675741

Whereabouts on the clock is this mark?

JTD

 

[DanGrayson]

Whereabouts on the clock is this mark?

JTD

On the front of the works, on the baseboard, centered under the hand shafts.

 

[DanGrayson]

On the front of the works, on the baseboard, centered under the hand shafts.

 

[DanGrayson]

Here's another question: the left end of this brass arm on the front is used to retain the shaft that signals hourly striking to begin, but somehow it's broken, or something is missing, so someone put a nail in there instead. I'd like to do better. Does anyone know what the original design was?

.

 

[Hudson]

Here's another question: the left end of this brass arm on the front is used to retain the shaft that signals hourly striking to begin, but somehow it's broken, or something is missing, so someone put a nail in there instead. I'd like to do better. Does anyone know what the original design was?

View attachment 675956 . View attachment 675958 View attachment 675957

I can only tell you that I have an old wooden plate movement that has the same setup as yours there. A end notched metal piece and a nail. Maybe they were made that way or maybe that was just a common thing for a repairman to do.

 

[DanGrayson]

The nail seems modern, compared to the other nails in the clock, so I think it's a repair.