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Thread: American Welch Mantle Clock, Victorian Period

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    Default American Welch Mantle Clock, Victorian Period

    A good score today. I was sitting in the doctors waiting room bored and was browsing Gumtree and this went up 1 minute before.




    Its made by E N Welch, who went broke in 1903 and were taken over by Sessions.

    This particular clock is from 1880 to 1890 and would have been made at Forrestville Connecticut. Its in remarkably good condition. I bought it off a couple in their late 60's and she got it when her aunt died. The aunt was from a relatively wealthy family that lived in Essendon Victoria.

    Its not particuarly worth a heap of money, but it worth much much more than the $120 I paid for it

    Its ticking away nicely.

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    Nice score mate.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    Nice score mate.
    Thanks mate. Always good to have a win for a change

    I had 2 problems with it when setting it up. I have posted the fixes below in case they are of some benefit to someone Googling for a fix to this issue.

    First was that it was chiming the hour on the half hour, and the half hour on the hour.

    This was easily fixed. When it hits 6 (the half hour) and starts chiming the hour instead of the half hour, at the same time, move the big hand up to 12. This immediately put it back to chiming at the correct places.

    Second problem, after fixing the first, was that it was chiming one hour forward, ie, at 12 o'clock, it was only chiming once for one oclock. This was another easy fix, at the moment it does the hour chime, gently push the hour hand forward one hour. It now chimes correctly on everything.

    I now have to see how accurate it is. It is adjusted fast/slow by turning the screw at the bottom of the pendulum.

    One thing I did notice is how nice the timber is. It has an oak case.

    Unfortunately, when they made this model they sprayed a dark lacquer over the timber that has the scroll work. You can see the difference between the upper and lower side timber in colour.



    You can see in the next pic with the door open, just how nice the colour of the inside timber is and how nice the scrolled timber would look in natural timber instead of that lacquer. It is really tempting to get rid of that lacquer so that you can see how nice the timber is.



    This clock would have been ordered from a catalogue, probably from a Jeweller or Department store.

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    Damn I hate the way postimage.org does what ever it feels right with portrait and landscape. Anyway, I am sure you know what I mean if you turn your head

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    Nice score sir , beautiful looking piece

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    I love the sexy pendulum

    The clock face seems to be a little loose.....it only has 2 screws and from what I can see thats all it came with. Its getting almost tempting to give it a revamp from the local clock guy and maybe at the same time sand the "splattered lacquer" off the scrolled timber work and have a nice oak finish.

    Does anyone know what the metal rod is thats hanging down (just to the left of the pendulum rod) ?


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    Not 100 % sure but Could be a adjustment for + - time speed , pocket watches have one internally,

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    Does it touch the chime as I wondered if it did or maybe helped it to resonate perhaps?
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    It is actually for correcting the amount of chimes when it goes out of sync. You push it up and the clock chimes a certain amount of times, then one for half hour. You then keep doing it until you get to the amount of chimes before the next hour, so that on the next hour, you have the correct amount of chimes.

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    Good score, Admin.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    I use a clock guy in Eltham. Who is your local guy. Nice pickup for the price! If I was there i reckon I would have bought it if you didn't

    Leroy
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeroyPatrol View Post
    I use a clock guy in Eltham. Who is your local guy. Nice pickup for the price! If I was there i reckon I would have bought it if you didn't

    Leroy
    I came across my local guy via a small ad in a local paper. I ripped it out and promptly lost it. He then stopped advertising and I found the add about 18 months later.
    He isnt a registered business, just a private tinkerer with a house full of clocks.

    There is one problem with this clock and it is that if you wind it fully (the chime wind), it chimes at a ridiculously fast speed (even at 12 its all over in about 3 seconds). So I have to wind it halfway twice a week. Other than that its fine, does 8 days easily and looking at it, I dont think it has been rebuilt at any stage (it doesnt have a telltale split pin holding the hands on).

    These American clocks (also know as Mantle, Gingerbread and Parlour clocks) have very strong springs in them and when most clock repairers rebuild them they use thinner ones to put less stress on the rest of the mechanism.

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