Unknown Clock Type and Missing Parts

[John G]

Hello Everyone,

Recently I got what I was told was a 1920-30 era German grandfather clock. The movement and face are not original. The Gustav Beck movement is of unknown age and the Suspension Spring and Pendumlum Leader are missing. Can someone please tell me what info I need to order replacement or universal parts? And where? Also, if anyone has an idea of the original clock maker please let me know.

thank you for taking the time to read my first post.

John

 

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[John G]

Update -- looking at some Gustav Becker serial number data on line I see this movement was made about 1878. Interesting that someone put an older movement into the newer cabinet.

Update -- Timesavers in Scottsdale AZ has this #38 Becker Suspension Spring,

German made. 17.5mm / 8.0mm (length x width) 12.5mm / 0.05mm (hole-to-pin length & spring thickness).

It looks very much like the fragment of the spring I found inside the case. As far as the Pendulum Leader goes I have not made any progress yet in finding a replacement. Nothing I've found on line looks even remotely like it would work without modification.

 

[John G]

While I'm waiting for the suspension spring to arrive I decided to take a closer look at the Pendulum and the Leader. Picking up the Pendulum I noticed noise coming from the Bob, so taking that off revealed about 40 grams of old washers stuffed in there (the Bob itself is only 350 g)!



Also I noticed the Bob was at the extreme long position so the prior owner was perhaps able to overcome a 'too short' Pendulum with the extra weight, but just barely. At this point I realized that I would have to make an excellent estimate of the correct length of the missing Leader. Since we got the clock home I felt the length of the Pendulum was too short vs the cabinet which the hidden washers have now confirmed. So I decided to make a jury-rigged Leader to see if the clock would run and how far off it would be from keeping time.

Luckily some left over brass hobby tubing my wife had, both round and square, fit the requirements allowing me to easily recreate the different perpendicular orientations required. Not having the Suspension Spring yet I improvised with a thin sheet of PET film. This is how the setup looks now.



So far the movement has been running about an hour with the Bob halfway in the travel on the adjusting screw. If it lasts overnight and by some miracle is just a few minutes off I'll move the Bob to the longest position and run again overnight so I can set it correctly. Interestingly the tick-tock time is symmetrical which is the first antique clock I've bought that wasn't seriously off.

 

[A2coins]

Great info very nice clock