Expert: David E Booth Jr, t/a Precision Repair - 11/3/2009

Question
We have recently inherited an Ansonia wall clock. The clock runs without difficulty once it is wound with the key but it does not chime. Can you advise us?


Answer
First off, I need to make a minor correction. The word "chime" in clocks is reserved for playing a song - the most well-known of these is the Westminster Tower Clock chime, as played by the clock in the Tower of the House of Parliament in London, England. The word you should be using, to avoid confusion is "strike".

There are several things that can cause a clock to stop striking. Ansonia clocks were all manufactured with what is known as "count wheel" striking. That is, here is a wheel on the back left side of the clock (remember the left is as seen from the front, so it will be on your right, as you look at the back of the movement. This wheel has slots cut around it's circumference, spaced so as to yield from 1 to twelve strikes, depending on the hour. Often, as the movement wears, these wheels get one tooth off, and bind up on the countwheel lever, that is supposed to drop into the slot at the end of the strike cycle. There are also several other levers involved in the strike that may or may be out of adjustment. Unless you are familiar with clock work, or want to learn it, I suggest you take the clock to a competent repair person. Probably, the clock is also dirty. Bacause striking takes more power than running the time train, failure to strike is the first symptom that the clock needs to be disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and lubricated.