Expert: Kenneth Saunders - 1/31/2008

Question
Hello, I recently bought a Junghans tambour with Westminster chime.  I am told it's from the turn of the century.  It has the B25 movement.  My concerns are:

1. The Pendulum swing is very narrow.  Much more so than my Seth Thomas from the same time period.  It's so narrow all you have to do is barely touch the pendulum and it stops.  Yet it's run for several days this way and kept fine time.  Is this proper for this kind of movement?  Just seems so unusual to me.

2.  On the chimes- the lowest chime note (horizontal bars) sounds louder and has an unusual harmonic to it, as if it's being over hit.  This clock has a separate gear train for strike, and I don't hear this problem then.  So I'm guessing it must be something with the chime train?

3.  Concerning the strike train- it is considerably more noisy than the chime train.  It sounds like gears are chattering as if there's too much play and they're wobbling around.  It's also very slow and struggles on the last notes of longer strikes.

I paid a fair amount for this from a clock shop, so I'm wondering if the problems I mention are normal or if there is something legitimately wrong with the clock.  Otherwise, it's been great, it keeps great time (better than the S.T.) and the chimes sound very nice (aside from said low note).  I appreciate your advice very much!

-Jon

Answer
I would suggest you return it to the clock shop and have them (1)adjust the depthing on the escapement slightly, (2) check for defect in the rod or in the hammer head distance or if someting is loose on the case and finally (3)check the lubrication on the upper strike train gear shafts.