Seth Thomas 24 HR Ship Clock - Time Only

[THTanner]

This ST Ships Clock came in for service not running at all. I am not sure what date it is from, but somewhere around 1940. A retired Navy corpsman has owned it for 40 years and never had it serviced.

It has the front wind 5165 A movement - serial 4809 - with seven?? jewels in the platform.

After cleaning and lubrication the clock runs really well except for something I do not understand. The movement works great at the 12 o'clock orientation. If I turn it clockwise to 3 o'clock position or 6 o'clock position is still runs fine. (this is turning the whole movement - not the hands)

As soon as I turn it to a 9 o'clock position it immediately stops and will not run at all.

My assumption is that the platform escapement probably has a bad jewel or pivot that somehow gets jammed at the 9 o'clock orientation. Any other ideas? All the non platform pivots are clean with no play.

Also, is this platform escapement the same as those in the back winding ST Ship's clocks?

thanks
tom

 

[shutterbug]

I think your suspicions are correct. Since it's a clock, and not a watch, it may not be a problem that will hinder performance. It may not be worth searching for.

 

[THTanner]

I think your suspicions are correct. Since it's a clock, and not a watch, it may not be a problem that will hinder performance. It may not be worth searching for.

I have found two of what looks like the same platform, but are back plate wind versions of this movement. I assume the platforms are the same, but I have seen reference to different number of jewels in some of them. Since these platforms can be replaced without splitting the main plates I will clean and lubricate the two swaps and see if I get the same result. I have three of these Seth Thomas ships clocks to work on. All of them are the front wind versions, so I am hoping the platforms can be swapped. The back wind version has a "freeze" button to hold the clock to start on the second and a second arbor to set the time and the front bezel is sealed. The front wind versions do not have the freeze button and you set the time by moving the hands after opening the front bezel. Other than that they appear to be the same.

The movements have three plates. The front plate is the same. The middle plate appears to be as well with some pivot holes not used on the front wind. The third back plate is different and has the button and hand set arbor. I am not sure if the main spring is the same with a reversed winding arbor or if there are other differences there. Will be fun to experiment.

 

[D.th.munroe]

Instrumentman 1 and C, NAVPERS 10194-B : Bureau of Naval Personnel : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Some stuff in here on them.
I wish my dad had kept his copies of these manuals.

 

[THTanner]

The rear wind 5186 has a round balance platform rather than the rectangle version.

So far no luck getting the rectangular balance to run if the clock is tilted very much. Also, when it runs down and stops I have to give it a bit of a twist to get it to start again. Then it runs fine mounted on the wall and wound weekly

Below are photos of the round balance platform and the rear wind movement