Expert: Martin Meyer - 2/27/2008

Question
Martin-Here is my original question-I recently purchased a piece of furniture from Ethan Allen which comes with a franz hermie clock.  It has a night shut off switch.  How do these typically work?  The instruction manual is very unclear.  What are the hours for night time shut off typically? Thanks for your help.
You asked me to give you some information-It is a mechanical movement clock with the numbers 350-020 on the back.  I hope that is enough information.  Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hi Caryn,
    I'm not aware of any 350-020 movement with a night-silent, unless this is a new version I have not come across.
    If your clock does have a night-silent, the switch should be either a lever sticking through the dial (usually at the "9") or a rod hanging down below and behind the dial, which you can push up or pull down. This is different from the chime selector lever, which has a "silent" setting which turns the chimes off completely.
    When you turn the night-silent to the "night off" position, the clock will not chime from night until morning. The times for this vary from clock to clock, but the most common is the last chime at 10:00 at night and the resumption of chiming at 7:15 in the morning. For the rod-type mechanism, the "up" position is night-off, and the "down" position is for 24-hour chiming.
    Note that there is no indication on the clock to tell if the clock is set to the day or night 12-hour period. If you notice that when the clock is set to night-off it does not chime during the day, move the hands 12 hours ahead to restore the clock to the correct day-night configuration.