Junghans ATO clock Battery help

[EmmaR]

hi everyone.
I picked up a junghans clock for service yesterday. I held a 1.5v torch battery on the wires, balanced it up, and away it went. It needs a clean. The battery box, however is missing, and I have never seen a clock quite like this one. I wonder if anyone has any idea what was on this clock, or an idea for replacement?

I will post some pics, and hope someone can help..

*EMMA*

 

[eskmill]

Your Junghans ATO battery clock has a "U" shaped bracket behind to secure a rectangular shaped 1-1/2 volt dry cell having spring or screw terminals atop. Such are rarely available today.

Meadows & Passmore or other clock parts supplier may have an alternate dry cell available or your could try Maplin or other electronics shop for a "D" size flashlight cell holder to be improvised into a holder and disguised to resemble an original Varta or other trade-name le Clanche cell.

Too, your clock really needs a glass dome to protect the delicate motion works from dust.

 

[EmmaR]

It does have a dome.. I left that with the customer.. thanks for your information. wonder how old this is, too.

*EMMA*

 

[eskmill]

Emma wonders how old the clock is. I do too and from what I have learned about the age of these and similar brass and glass cased Junghans-ATO battery clocks is scant.

According to researcher Michael Viredaz, Junghans was offering a battery clock designed by ATO as early as 1930 but not in the brass and glass case; more likely as a wood cased wall clock.

I strongly believe that your example and similar in brass and glass cases by Junghans were made for export during the efforts to rebuild German industry after WWII, likely early in the 1950's and later.

I have a parts catalog of 1957 illustrating the Junghans ATO battery clock in a rectangular brass bound glass case but it is an early version with the dial printed on the class.

 

[DC Kelley]

Regarding the original metal can that covered the battery, I can post a picture in a week or so but is it a simple folded brass can of sheet stock slightly higher then the small rails you see in the back and generally square in aspect ratio. The battery the originally was fitted to it is different than what you will find on Kundo and others.

Sorry I don't have a pic, the metal stock is 0.030 thick and 1.6 deep, 2.2 wide and 6.2 high (all inches) if you care to fabricate one. The case also has some "air vents" stamped in the back side in the form of a slotted circle design. There is a small "hold down" of metal spot welded on the inside to secure the battery and one center on the back to hold it in place to be base. Someone with a metal brake from the local shop class could make one. The battery cheater that Timesaver sells for Kundos is too big here, just go and get a cheap plastic one from the local hardware store and it fits in the above fine.

I can not see from your picture, but the early models of this clock had a separate second hand driven off the second wheel, the latter models do not have this feature. This was not carried over to the Kundos, the pendulum period whas shortened and the gearing was lost. If I had to pick a date, I would guess early 50's, very late 40's

 

[parkbankhorology]

Hi. I have recently purchased a similar ATO clock, again without the battery box. I plan to fabricate one. Were you able to send a photo to the previous correspondent, as it would be a great help to me, too. Many thanks

 

[parkbankhorology]

Hi. I have recently purchased a similar ATO clock, again without the battery box. I plan to fabricate one. Were you able to send a photo to the previous correspondent, as it would be a great help to me, too. Many thanks, Bill

 

[clocker122004]

I was wondering if you ever got an answer to this question. I received the 1st two attached pictures from a gentleman in Germany. As you can see the battery case is a nice brass housing. The 3rd picture is of my ATO showing the battery I purchased from Timesavers; page 144 of the 2008 catalog.

Hope this helps.
Paul

 

[clocker122004]

I was wondering if you ever got an answer to this question. I received the 1st two attached pictures from a gentleman in Germany. As you can see the battery case is a nice brass housing. The 3rd picture is of my ATO showing the battery I purchased from Timesavers; page 144 of the 2008 catalog.

Hope this helps.
Paul

Well, the pictures did not come out in the order the instructions for posting pictures say they will. The 1st noted above are actually #1 & #3 in the posted order.

 

[parkbankhorology]

Paul
Thanks very much for these photos. I now have sufficient information to make a new battery box for my ATO clock.
Best wishes, Bill

 

[EmmaR]

Thanks Paul.. wonder where you get a Battery like that?

*EM*

 

[jkfabulos]

Thanks Paul.. wonder where you get a Battery like that?
*EM*

In the response it clearly stated the battery came from Timesavers.

 

[EmmaR]

DUH!

*EM*

 

[clocker122004]

EM:

Would you know if it is possible to get the dial restored on this type of clock? In my bone-headed naivete I tried to clean mine with dishwashing detergent. When I did the markings began to wash off & I lost some of the numerials. See pic...:bang: didn't think it was water soluble. I found a replacement dial on ebay but was outbid for it. It went for more than I think the clock is worth. I would like to get this restored if possible.

Thanks.

Paul

 

[clocker122004]

when I tried to add pics things went into digital LaLa Land...

 

[clocker122004]

well folks... I tried twice to attach pics but both times I got booted out of the NAWCC site. Sorry, no pics.

Paul

 

[Burkhard Rasch]

Hi Friends
Do You know where to get this beautyfull battery-housing?
I have a Junghans ATO with a chrome bound glas case with
the numders printed on the inside.If I had this I could have it chromed.
Thanks for any hint
Burkhard

 

[rl64tx]

Hi folks! I purchased the exact same clock at a garage sale for 3 bucks! Does anybody know where to get a coil for this clock? The wire leading to the battery from the coil was broke off. The numbering on the coil is nr 51 2000 ohm 1.5v. Thanks, Ralph. BTW..it came with the battery cover and a D cell battery..i know it should have a dry cell battery from timesavers.

 

[eskmill]

Remove the solenoid assembly from the clock and disassemble the soleniod. The coil is usually wound on a wooden spool inside the brass housing.

You should see two wires emerging from the coil. One leads to the contacts along side the movement. The other wire connects to the dry cell.

You should be able to splice on a lead very carefully or have someone gifted at small electronics solder on a new lead. It takes care.

Replacement coils are not available except from salvage.

You can purchase a dry cell from Timesavers or others but a good 1.5 Volt alkaline cell should run the Junghans battery clock for about two years.

 

[rl64tx]

Thank you sir! A little to technical for me...so
I'll probably just sell it for parts... Thanks, Ralph.

 

[David Robertson]

rl64tx,

Contact me at davesclocks@gmail.com... I can maybe help.

 

[clocker122004]

Thank you sir! A little to technical for me...so
I'll probably just sell it for parts... Thanks, Ralph.

RL...if you want to sell it for parts I am interested. I specifically need a dial but who knows what else might be useful. Email;

pd.morrow@verizon.net

I am in the DFW airport area of north Texas.
Thanks.
Paul

 

[Pfottler]

My first time at this site. I have an identical Junghans however mine is wired for two AA 1.5 volt batteries and it was done at the factory and not as an add on so mine is probably a lot newer. The batteries are arranged vertically with the two + terminals hooked together and the two - terminals hooked together. There is one wire leading from the plus terminals into the coil. My clock is missing a globe-any sources you might know of?. I made a layout of the clock and it appears that a 6 1/4" x 10" globe will work.

 

[fixoclock]

Re: Junghans ATO clock coil

Re: RL64TX query about the Junghans ATO coil 2000 ohms.

I have found that quite often the open circuit in these coils is right down at the bottom of the winding. The soldered joint between the leader wire and the actual coil wire is deep down at the inner spool and the flux used to aid the soldering, or the small plastic insulator used to cover that joint, actually eats away the fine coper wire and the circuit is lost.
I have recently rewound two of these coils using 0.07mm enamelled copper wire. A coil resistance of 2000 +/- 5% will operate the clock just fine. To achieve this resistance approximately 450 metres of 0.07 mm wire is required to be would onto the spool. One has to take notice of the direction of the winding as this controls the polarity of the coil.

Lindsay Bramall.

 

[crazysmom]

Thank you so much for the tip about the Timesavers.

My Dad brought home one of these clocks from Germany. He was stationed there in the Army after the war.

The clocks current battery is in a box that says it can be replaced with a Horolovar #3 or #10. But I think this battery is just a rig because inside the cardboard box is an old Duracell Akaline "D" battery that looks like the connections were soldered on.

Funny thing is Dad said the clocked stopped working decades ago, and that he could never find a battery. He gave it to my sister and she said the same thing. She gave it to us about 6 months ago. My husband leveled it and started the pendulum and it kept time up until a couple days ago. That's when he started in investigate and found the battery and sent me on an Internet search.

I now have this on my Christmas list.

 

[eskmill]

The Junghans ATO battery clock runs fine on 1-1/2 volts DC. That's what they were designed to operate on.....and for a long, long time usually even continuing to operate after the old dry cell begins to deteriorate physically.

The old original German zinc-carbon dry cells had a different form factor than the cylindrical flashlight cells but produce the same voltage and last well past their shelf life.

The DuraCell and other steel clad alkaline "D" cells work well too....maybe even better as far as the working life goes but...and it's a big but. The steel jacket on the alkaline cells is magnetic and interferes with the magnetics of the clock which affects the rate of the clock.

When a older zinc-carbon drycell is replaced with the steel jacketed alkaline dry cell, the slow-fast adjustment may be way off and require some careful fiddling with the slow-fast regulating nut to return to good timekeeping.

 

[crazysmom]

Well thank you!

I had not thought of that.

Since this is a family "heirloom", I will probably buy that correct battery even though it is expensive.

Do you think these batteries will continue to be made?

Barb

 

[robb257731]

Hi All,
I've got a Junghans ATO clock that's running quite fast. How do I slow it down?

 

[KingJoe]

I have a parts catalog of 1957 illustrating the Junghans ATO battery clock in a rectangular brass bound glass case but it is an early version with the dial printed on the class.

I have that version.... Square glass box to cover the workings.... Battery in rear covered by a brass box about 6" x 2" x 1.5"

Battery is missing.... In process of trying to locate a replacement battery....

 

[Mike Phelan]

Joe
That looks like mine. I did have the original plastic battery casing and the remains on the label, so I made a new label and used 4 x AA cells in parallel inside it.

The clock also had a leaky capacitor in the electronics bit.

 

[pastenseverb]

ok, that's nice but I thought a better option was just to go to radio shack and get a battery holder for a standard AA battery and keep it under tyhe base where it was originally. I held it in place with some HVAC rubber hose. It worked great.

 

[antiekeradio]

some ATO's have the rectangular battery box in plain sight behind the main pillar / movement support, above the base

not a good plan to put a AA battery holder there. At least not without a rectangular cardboard box with the above print on it

 

[praezis]

@ mike:
if you like to correct the German part...
Regards,
Frank

 

[Mike Phelan]

Search is your friend.

Have a look at mine here.

 

[jamesstuart]

hi everyone.
I picked up a junghans clock for service yesterday. I held a 1.5v torch battery on the wires, balanced it up, and away it went. It needs a clean. The battery box, however is missing, and I have never seen a clock quite like this one. I wonder if anyone has any idea what was on this clock, or an idea for replacement?

I will post some pics, and hope someone can help..

*EMMA*

I have bought one of these same clocks and am now repairing it. I temporarily installed a D cell battery holder. The problem I am having now is the pawl that rides on the gear and bumps the contact is not returning to the gear. I am cleaning and lubricating but I think the minute coil spring may be weak.
AS for the age of this clock see the history web site xxx
It infers that Junghans went to an electronic circuit to sense the inductive pulse and a relay to energize the coil to kick the pendulum right after WWII. I will be researching the clock and if you like I will share my findings. I am a librarian now and research is my thing. I did see Timesavers has a battery which will fit nicely it is 1 1/2x 1 1/2 x 4 if I remember in Part 3 page 136 part # 10603.
I specialize in repairing anniversary clocks preferably Kundos.
James