My “New” Crystal Regulator….

[PaulWeber]

I just wanted to show off my “new” French crystal regulator which I just finished restoring (case only).

 

[tracerjack]

Very nice, indeed. Love polished brass. Have had my eye on a crystal for a long time, but one has yet to come my way.

 

[Aguilar]

Nice job, can you explain your process? Do you have before photos?

 

[PaulWeber]

I probably expended a good 30 hours of tedious labor restoring just the case and pendulum. The basic steps were:

completely disassemble the case and pendulum
soak the pieces in a hot soap cleaning solution for a few hours
rinse and lightly scrub with toothbrush
clean all part in an ultrasonic cleaner
rinse and lightly scrub with toothbrush
polish all the parts on a bench buffer
final rinsing/cleaning with acetone
2 coats of lacquer
reassemble clock
post pictures on NAWCC and see if anyone is impressed.

 

[michael isaacs]

Beautiful job. Curious as to why you reversed the corner posts. Esthetics? or are they now the way it should have been originally?

 

[Schatznut]

Very nice, Paul! Rebuilding the movements is sometimes trivial compared to restoring and refinishing the acres of brass some of these clocks have. Bravo!

 

[PaulWeber]

Beautiful job. Curious as to why you reversed the corner posts. Esthetics? or are they now the way it should have been originally?

Hi Michael. Thanks! I assumed the posts were meant to be Corinthian Greek columns, and that they were inadvertently mounted upside down the last time someone took this clock apart. (See attached picture)

 

[PaulWeber]

Very nice, Paul! Rebuilding the movements is sometimes trivial compared to restoring and refinishing the acres of brass some of these clocks have. Bravo!

Thanks! I hope eventually to learn how to overhaul these movements—down the road if I ever get the time.

I’ve now “restored“ about 7-8 of these crystal regulators, and each time I learn some new and better techniques. I still have plenty of room for improvement, but I do feel like I‘m getting pretty decent at it.

Attached are some pics of a 14” tall Tiffany clock I restored about a month ago….