Expert: Martin Meyer - 5/11/2009

Question
Is there a guide to battery replacements for battery operated clocks. Specifically for a Seth Thomas Abberly mantel clock, Cat. No. 0234, Mondel No. 0234-001, Talley Industries, Made in Japan. The flat style battery was already gone when I acquired it. In the packages at the store it was hard to determine the right replacement and I hate the prospect of buying several batteries to find the right one. There was no info in the battery well, I did check carefully. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Valerie,

There is no battery replacement guide for clocks that I know of, and I doubt that one exists. The only clock that I can find named "Abberly" or "Abberley" is a Bulova, not a Seth Thomas. If the clock is indeed a Bulova, you may be able to contact them about the correct battery. If the clock is a Seth Thomas, there is no way to get factory-direct information. Seth Thomas has changed ownership many times, and no information is currently available from them.

I don't know what battery you might be referring to as "flat", unless you mean a small disk-shaped battery, much like a large watch battery. This would only be in a small clock. As there are many variants of this style battery, the battery number is virtually always marked on the clock. The only other flat battery I can think of is a 9-volt battery, and these are almost never used in clocks. If your battery compartment appears flat, it may take two or more AA cells, laid side-by-side. In this case you would be able to see the multiple contacts for each end of the batteries.

Unless the clock is quite old, the only batteries commonly used in clocks are AA, AAA, C, D or the disk-shaped silver-colored cells referred to above, and used only in very small clocks. If you sent me a closeup photo of the back of the clock and battery well, there is a slim chance that I could provide further information. http://www.clockmasteronline.com