So what's the deal with the copper 400 day clocks?

[Ken M]

Just picked one up on ebay, it was cheap enough. What's the story? Plate 1159, guess it's a Herr.

 

[KurtinSA]

Just changing things up to catch customers eyes. There are brass, painted, chrome, etc. I have a full sized copper by Kundo and another by Kern and Sohne.

Kurt

 

[Ken M]

I want a chrome, but they are a little pricey...someday. I bought this because it was cheap and unusual. It's also a full sized. It will stick out of the crowd.

 

[Ken M]

How to polish a copper clock? Any precautions I need to take? Or just treat it as usual?

 

[KurtinSA]

I would try your usual method but pick the part of the base that is in the back.

Kurt

 

[Ken M]

I usually start at the base and work up. This time I started with the mainspring....another 2 hour ordeal, live and learn. The base and suck look good, I think just a light polish will do.

 

[Schatznut]

So are the parts that are normally brass made of copper or are they copper plate over steel?

 

[Ken M]

Now I'm confused. What's dirty copper? What's clean copper? What's polished away copper plating? I don't know. I polished one side of the crown with Blue Magic, the other side with Windex. I used windex on the plate. The front side is the Blue Magic side of the crown, the back is Windexed. I thought at first I was removing copper plating and going down to the brass. But it doesn't look like brass, it looks like copper, but it doesn't have the deep red color like the other. What to do. Polish? Clean? If polish, it's going to take a lot of work. But I like the deep red color, but if it's just tarnish and dirt, I don't want it. What to do......

 

[KurtinSA]

I can't imagine Windex would do much other than to remove a thin layer of dirt.

Kurt

 

[Ken M]

I removed the "lacquer" (I'm assuming" from one side of the crown and the finials. They are brass. Other things like the pillars look to be plated, or just painted. But I can't trust my eyes. I don't know if I'm looking at naked brass or something else. The crown and the finials look great. I just cleaned it up and stole a ss unit from a Schatz just to get it running. I need a bottom block. But it's a pretty clock, what ever it's made of!

 

[Ken M]

The more I poked around this thing, the more curious I got, what's under all this reddish stuff. So I went at it. The columns are white, not brass, not copper, just white. Same with the base plate. What a beautiful clock. So I'm wondering, why would you make this clock with these different metals and colors, just to paint it all the same color? That was lacquer or something harder, a real bear to get off with the finger method. The parts that could go in the ultrasonic were easy. I don't think it came from the factory like that. The pics don't do it justice, but the best I can do at the moment.

 

[txturbo]

Looks very nice. Are you going to coat it with lacquer?

 

[Ken M]

No, just wax. I can't do lacquer, I've tried.

 

[Nathan S]

No, just wax. I can't do lacquer, I've tried.

I. had two clocks that looked like copper, mainly the lower parts and it was just dezincification of the brass made it look like copper. Another base was a dull brown and for all the world looked like bakelite, but all polished up to brass.

 

[Ken M]

A while back I got a clock with the old copper colored ss. I built a ss unit for the copper clock today so I could return the Schatz ss unit I borrowed. I figured I'd try that old spring, it came in a clock that required 0.004" so I assumed that was the thickness and I believe it was. The clock would not run. I put in a new Horolovar spring and it's running fine. Those things must have worked at one time, I wonder why I couldn't get it to run with that spring.

 

[Dells]

I have found that the old bronze coloured torsion springs lost there elasticity over time.

 

[Ken M]

That's probably it, it snapped really easy.

 

[KurtinSA]

The dimensions of the older springs are not as controlled as the Horolovar springs, making it harder to choose those older springs. I believe the width was somewhat non-standard.

Kurt