Setting up Gustav Becker P18 Westminster chimes

[David Chamberlin]

Hi - this is my first post, and I hope I have the correct bit of the forum!

I've just bought a lovely (and rather large!) Gustav Becker oak mantle clock (Serial no. 2152457, Freiburg 1925) from a local auction house.

It keeps excellent time, beats perfectly, and the hour chimes are fine. There's a problem with the quarter hour Westminster chimes, however, which are not in the correct sequence (at the moment chiming two sets on the first quarter, with the sequence following round to chime only one set on the hour). What's more concerning is that the quarter hour sequence has shifted since I've had the clock (2 days so far!). This may be due to moving the clock? Is there an easy way of re-setting the quarter hour chime sequence?

Grateful for any advice, please!

Many thanks.

 

[KurtinSA]

Welcome to the message board! I can't help with the chiming sequence and fixes. The clock's serial number dates to the first half of 1910. Some of the online listings say by Kochmann have been shown to not be that correct, especially after 1900. John Hubby has created a much tighter sequencing for clocks in this post:

Post Your Gustav Becker Clocks Here

Kurt

 

[John Arrowood]

The twin of the Becker in this posting is sitting in my house and has been since the mid 1960's. John Hubby (I think) posted a reply to my questions on the MB a few years ago. He posted a picture from the 1912 Becker catalog. It's Model 401 and based on the serial number was in the 4th quarter of 1908. You can probably find the original posting by searching my posts for the clock.

 

[Isaac]

Sounds like a lever might be sticking and isn’t always dropping completely. I believe these have a chime correction feature although this is an earlier movement than mine with the back plate gearing.

 

[KurtinSA]

John, here's Hubby's answer to your post:

Post Your Gustav Becker Clocks Here

Your clock has a serial number of 206xxxx so it would have been a year or so earlier than David's.

Kurt

 

[shutterbug]

I'll move this to clock repair. If this has a chime correction, it will take care of itself in a couple of hours. Let us know.

 

[tracerjack]

My GB has a different case, but the movement appears to be the same. On mine, there is a small lever that sets out from the right side of the movement's front plate. It triggers the chimes. I can't tell from the angle of your photo if yours has this same feature. If it does, then you can sequence the chimes by pressing the lever until the chimes are correct. You would need to let the chimes finish each sequence before pressing it again. If it continues to get out of sequence, then most likely the movement needs cleaning.

 

[skinnb1]

I have a similar Gustav Becker movement which has a common autocorrect mechanism. If the chimes get out of sequence, which can happen if the clock stops and is restarted after moving for example, the chimes and strike will come back into the correct sequence within a couple of hours. Whilst it is doing that it may not chime at one or more of the quarters and may chime incorrectly at others. It sounds as though your clock has some other problem which could be a sticking lever or possibly the chime operation being incorrectly set up. I'm afraid that I don't think there is a simple fix. It would probably need the movement to be removed from the case and then operated to observe what happens with the chime mechanism at the various quarters.