Where to buy movements?

[MosinNagant]

In my recent post, I built a clock from a kit that my brother found at the goodwill, that turned out to be something somebody threw together. The movement was from india, and has been pretty decent so far. I can't imagine these movements being very high priced, but I don't know where to start looking. Anybody have any idea where a person could find a cheap working movement for a project? Now that I have the first one pretty much done, my next project, Tardis clock.....

 

[Scottie-TX]

I'm sure you expected this but I find movements I need on eBay. Sometimes I even need to buy a junk case to get it. Are you able to repair movements that are not in the best of running order? Non-working movements of course are least expensive. All the majors sell new movements - many, German. I don't have much good to say about India movements. My experiences were not good. Give MARK BUTTERWORTH a shout for starters. He's a member and consultant here and has a GREAT reputation here.
TIMESAVERS AND MERRITS are also sellers of new movements and have a variety of choices, makers, etc.

 

[MosinNagant]

Awesome, thanks Scottie. I'm just looking for something cheap to build fun projects out of. Ex-Wife gets most of my monthly income, so I have to do things on the cheap I have yet to have to rebuild a movement completely, and my only experience with taking one apart didn't end well. It apparently needed bushing replaced, but I tried disassembling and oil hoping for the best, and yeah, didn't work. Need to learn how to remove and install bushings I guess. Thanks for the info, I'll definitely check into those options.

 

[Scottie-TX]

Yeah; Recall it too well. "/She got th' gol' mine. I got th' shaff"
MO, I got GREAT news fer ya! You DON'T hafta know how to replace a bushing to learn the basics of clock repair. It was years before I replaced a bushing - still do it seldom. I regard bushing replacement at least a level II on the learning scale. Many clocks will run with worn bushings. They are replaced to prevent future failure or in some cases, potential damage. So; Don't be discouraged by your lack of skills and tools. I also started like you - either making clocks from new movements or converting quartz clocks to mechanical. You CAN learn clock repair.

 

[Bogey]

Yeah; Recall it too well. "/She got th' gol' mine. I got th' shaff"
MO, I got GREAT news fer ya! You DON'T hafta know how to replace a bushing to learn the basics of clock repair. It was years before I replaced a bushing - still do it seldom. I regard bushing replacement at least a level II on the learning scale. Many clocks will run with worn bushings. They are replaced to prevent future failure or in some cases, potential damage. So; Don't be discouraged by your lack of skills and tools. I also started like you - either making clocks from new movements or converting quartz clocks to mechanical. You CAN learn clock repair.

And let me add to that, that learning to repair movements DOES NOT have to cost a lot of money. With the right instructions and some basic tools (some you probably already possess), you can do a lot.

 

[Orbitermonkey]

You might want to try a local repair shop. The proprietor may have a few old movements hanging around that don't really need much work. If you have a local NAWCC chapter with regular meetings/marts I would start looking there. I always see boxes of movements that are viable for projects and learning---especially if the mart has an active silent auction.

When I first started, I bought a ton of old English mantle clocks with German movements from Merritt's "porch". I found these to be really good for starting out because the mainsprings are contained in barrels and the material quality is quite good. Usually they just needed a good cleaning to get them running again. The cases were shot but that's not what I bought them for and not what you seem to want the for either. At the time I was able to get them for less than $20 a piece.

Good luck!

 

[Scottie-TX]

My early experiences with clock shops was abominable. That don't mean yours would be. They seemed closed mouth - resentful - that I was trying to cut into their profits. One even quoted twenty dollars for a common american ribbon/rod suspension. I said, "no thanks" and never went back.

 

[MosinNagant]

Yeah, the only local shop I've been to seems to have employees that are half/half on the closed mouth or resentful side. The owner and his daughter don't seem to be too keen on me being there, but knowing that they're not going to sell the majority of the clocks they have, they put up with me. The son of the owner, and their one non-family employee have been VERY helpful and helped me out quite a bit. So it just depends on who's there the day I go on how much help I get

Definitely need to check some other clocks shops then. There are a few in the OKC area, so hopefully I can check out some more soon. I'm trading my sport bike for a 73 beetle from a guy on craigslist, so that's my next project I like anything mechanical....