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Clocks, Watches/clock occasionally fails to strike a quarter

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Expert: - 3/13/2009


Question
Hi, I have a German Kienzle clock c.1920. It has a Westminster chime. Recently it occasionally misses a quarter strike and I'm not sure why.  It doesn't seem to have a 'correction' mechanism so when it misses a quarter it stays out of sync until I manually correct it.  Could it be just in need of a clean or is there some other possible reason?

Answer
so when it misses - it fails to do the quarter? You then end up one quarter behind the hands? The hour strike probably does do the strike on the hour even though the quarters are wrong?

Most often the cause is insufficient lift on the lever that rides the 4 lobe cam on the hand shaft. Some wear in the system and a slight bend in the lever perhaps will be the fix.

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Kenneth Saunders

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any mechanical clock question -no watches- no battery clock questions and no appraisals-ie: "how much is my clock worth?" type questions please! Attach a photo if possible and note all markings on the rear of the mechanism- thanks 40 years as a professional clock repair person- still a full time clock repair service owner

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40 years as a professional clock repair person- still a full time clock repair service owner.

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