Expert: Martin Meyer - 5/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I recently purchased a Hermle 1171-850 movement with a night time shutoff feature. It also has three different chimes selection on the righthand side of the face and a shutoff lever on the left. However, I do not know what setting it needs to be on to engage the 11 pm - 7 am shutoff feature.  I've tried running it in many different settings to try and figure it out, but am unable to find the proper setting.  Any insight on the chime settings would be appreciated.  Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Jason,

The chime shutoff on your clock is probably either 1)a brass rod which hangs down behind the dial on the right side of the dial, and should be just barely visible below the dial frame. You push this rod up to engage the Night Silent feature and pull it down for 24 hour chiming. Or 2)a middle position on the strike shutoff lever near the 9:00 mark on the dial. This position may or may not be marked on the dial between "Strike" and "Silent".

This may not be relevant in your case, but it deserves mentioning. Because the Night Silent only activates at (for example) 10:00pm, and not at 10:00am, your clock must have an "am" and "pm" setting built in. There is no indicator for this, and it is a very common problem that clock owners believe there is a problem with their clock's chime, when they simply have the am and pm settings reversed. In this case the clock will not chime from 10:15 AM to 7:00 PM. If this occurs, turn the hands forward 12 hours, and you will have corrected the problem.

Also, note that the shut off and restart times vary, and may not be exactly the times specified in your instruction manual. The most common setting is the last chime at night at 10:00, and the first chime in the morning at 7:15.  http://www.clockmasteronline.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the information.  Upon double checking the number, I was wrong and the number is actually a 2071-850.  I'm not sure if this makes a difference or not.

I am unable to locate a rod on the right hand side and I tried to place the left hand switch in a middle position.  Maybe I'm missing something, but it appears when I use the switch on the left hand side it pulls all the hammers back and locks them permanently in the off position.  The chimes on the right still engage and play every 15 minutes and the hour chimes still move, but do not strike.  They do not engage until I switch it back to the strike position.  I've been unable to find the setting where they automatically switch off at night and re-engage in the morning.

All the information I've found on this model, it should have a night shutoff and it was advertised as having one.  Is it possible this model does not have it?

Thanks for all your help.

Answer
Hi Jason,

I discussed this issue with my distributor, and it can get a bit complicated. There are three possible positions for the Night Silent on this movement: a slot in the dial near the "9", a slot in the dial near the "3", or a lever behind the dial which is generally connected to a brass rod hanging down behind the dial. There are also some 2071-850's without a Night Silent, I suspect a special order request from the clock manufacturer to the movement manufacturer.

If at the "9", the setting would probably, but not necessarily be marked, and you should be able to feel the lever slip into place in the correct "groove" for the Night Silent setting. If at the "3", the Night Silent setting would almost certainly be marked.

The rod behind the dial would be the easiest location to miss. This would be a brass rod, about 1/8" in diameter, and with a loop or small knob at its free (lower) end. This rod would be to the right of the hand shaft, would hang down behind the dial, and would barely extend below the bottom of the dial frame, if at all. It is very easy to miss if you don't know it's there. You might want to look up behind the dial with a flashlight to look for it. If your clock has a Night Silent, it should be in one of these locations.

One final thought belatedly occurs to me on re-reading your original message. You say that you "recently purchased a Hermle 1171-850 movement" (I am aware of your later correction of the model number). I have been picturing a movement installed in a clock case, that is, I was assuming that you purchased a Clock which contained this movement. If you purchased a movement only, and it is (or was) not installed in a clock, you will NOT find this brass rod, which is installed by the clock manufacturer before he installs the movement in the clock. In this case, you should be looking for a horizontal shiny steel lever on the front plate of the movement. This is NOT the Chime Selector, that is, the long lever which extends beyond the movement plate and mounts the finger lever which sticks through the slot in the dial near the "3", and is moved to select which melody the chime plays. The lever I am referring to is shorter, does not extend beyond the movement plate, but rather ends about halfway between the center shaft and the right side of the movement plate. It has a hole drilled in it near the end. The brass rod will be attached to this lever through this hole so that it hangs down vertically.  http://www.clockmasteronline.com