As I will no longer be the owner of a 10x10 metre workshop I will be returning to my hobby of restoring old clocks. It takes a minimum of space and provides hours of amusement...
Anyone got any old clocks for me to restore? Yes clockwork ones ONLY!!!

Good stuff = do you do old dials too - should get a good trade.

Liz and ED

have an old kundo in a brass and glass case 360 day i think. very temperamental, keeps stopping if there is the slightest vibration. Also have an old mantel clock that belonged to my g/mother, dont know what brand, but see a lot around . If i ever learn how to send photo's on this site i'll post them for you. JohnW

John .. To upload photos ... L click reply L click Attach images (click box at bottom of the window) L click Browse (in box associated with File Name 1) Navigate to where the pic is stored .. eg. L click My Docs (If you have windows XP or similar ) L Click My Pictures (or wherever you keep your photos) After you find the picture you want to send .. double click on it Upload file (at bottom of the window) and wait & wait (I think mine took a long time because it was a large file) & there it is ... uploaded. repeat the selection process for as many as you want to upload. (As a test to see if it works, I chose a pic of my van & my Daughter's at a recent trip to Woolgoogla)

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 20th of April 2009 07:43:44 AM

Oh!! I thought you mispelt "old c....ck's" never mind!!!

lized wrote:

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Good stuff = do you do old dials too - should get a good trade.

Liz and ED

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Some dials are easily replicated and survive the scrutiny of the average punter. The dial on the Ansonia Gingerbread clock  is a renewed one. The original was so damaged that I had to completley redraw it and print it on a medium. The aluminuim ones are very difficult to repair depending on what is wrong with them, if numbers are missing or the dial is bent then it can sometimes be fixed otherwise it's a case of finding a similar dial and using that.
This clock came up really well considering when I got it it had been repainted brown and the mechanism was broken....

 

what a weird mob we are, I have had an old ansonia clock (circa late 1800's, one of many that I have had or still own) for almost ten years, it came to me as a box of bits

some clown had pulled it to peices including the case and not knowing how to reconstruct it had given it to a secondhand shop

I have held onto this old feller all that time and continued the search right up until Basil listed this post, I just happened to go to ebay and there was my clock case in all it's glory

I can now reconstruct the case as it is supposed to be, all these years later

this is what the ugly little bugger is supposed to look like

dave06 wrote:

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what a weird mob we are, I have had an old ansonia clock (circa late 1800's, one of many that I have had or still own) for almost ten years, it came to me as a box of bits

some clown had pulled it to peices including the case and not knowing how to reconstruct it had given it to a secondhand shop

I have held onto this old feller all that time and continued the search right up until Basil listed this post, I just happened to go to ebay and there was my clock case in all it's glory

I can now reconstruct the case as it is supposed to be, all these years later

this is what the ugly little bugger is supposed to look like

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Looks a nice clock Dave, have you got the silver etched glass? Mine was without that so I etched a piece of 1/16 glass and put it in....

 

no he took that off as well, I am looking at a couple of places that sell the stuff but havent found any as yet, 

did you acid etch or hand etch, if acid what did you use as a template to follow the original 

the above clock is the one for sale on ebay (currently at $100, so it is cheap enough, I normally get around the $500 - $700 for mine)
 
I took the template for the outer casing off the photo, just a matter of "scaling up the photocopys until I reached the desired width of the outer casing) it looks like he has varnished it or finished it with one of those "one step" stains, he ruined it anyway, 

I would strip that rubbish off and bring it back to it's true glory, just simply a stain and then bee's wax and a little turps mine will be a while, she is a bit of a mess at the moment,
 
I love the simplicity of the ansonia, I have three of the little fellers and have restored them as well as another two that I sold, I also have two or three old english triple chimes out in the shed in various conditions that are waiting for me to get some time, as well as a cute little single strike german of about the 60's 

my cuckoo has stopped for some reason so I will have to look at that one day, I dont like the workings on them, once those chains fall off they are hell on wheels to get back on
 
I would like an old grandfather but holidays keep eating all my money

you did a great job on your's, she look's a treat,

i also like the look of the "sessions" clock, very simple in style to the ansonia

-- Edited by dave06 on Saturday 25th of April 2009 04:45:48 PM

You will probably find the original finish is shellac so metho (orange juice optional) and some fine steel wool will strip the case, may need to get a cotton bud into the detail... I got a glass etching kit at Spotlight in the craft dept and it came with a bottle of etching material. I cut a "negative" template from self adhesive plastic using great care and the skill of a neuro surgeon, applied it to my piece of glass then put the resistant shield stuff on. Appliy the etch material to the unshileded part which is the positive of what you want, wait the 15 minutes or so then wash it off with water and the etch stuff peels off like masking tape.
Most glass places sell the etching stuff, it used to be hydrofluric acid which is really nasty stuff.

I got a plating kit too from a plating place to replate the silver but I now know a bloke who will do it for me without the need for all the hassle. Nickle plate is what is on the original, not silver.

yep thats how I do them, with the metho and two buckets of patience, but the finish that this feller has put on the one previous (in picture above) is obviously not original I think it is a one step gloss stain, which would be a mongrel to get off I found a place last week that sold duplicates of the original "filigree" (bad spelling???) work on the glass but I didn't take note of the address and now I have lost it again. not happy.