Expert: John Newman - 10/10/2010

Question
a tenant left this elgin clock;I found the winding key,but at first it only chimed 12 times for each hour; recently it just keeps stopping; can i just buy a replacement movement and where,what am I looking for?

Answer
Donna, You have an Asian clock, probably a wall clock, the most popular of that type.  I need to clarify your questions a little.  You say at first it chimed 12 hours for each hour.  How is it chiming now?  If it is still doing that, there are a couple of ways to correct it, one that can possibly be done by turning the minute hand in a certain way.  The other has to done by removing the hands and dial and sometimes requires the services of an experinced clockmaker.  Let me know.  As far as it stopping, when you start it do you hear a ticking sound?  Are both mainspring are wound?  The right one is for the time and the left one is for the strike.  Does it have an even beat sounding like tick....tock....tick....tock, or does it sound like tick..tock......tick..tock?  If that is the case, it needs to be put in beat.  I'm not sure which model you have but the beat can be set on some just by holding the pendulum over to one side and released.  Also if the beat is a little off, the clock can be tilted by moving the bottom of the clock to the right or left a little to obtain the even beat.   As far as replacing the movement, there are some major drawbacks.  The first is that the Asian manufacturers did not standardize these movements so they could be easily be replaced.  The factors that have to be considered are the mounting feet dimensions and height, handshaft length, winding hole locations, strike hammer placement and pendulum length.  If you do find the exact match, the quality of these movements are such that I do not use them.  I've run into too many problems that add up in labor, that the customers elect not to have this done.  The alternative I use is to convert the clock to a quality German chiming quartz pendulum movement.  With this conversion I can set up the clock so the appearance had not been changed.  There are many features to these movements such as multiple melodies, volume control, night off, silence and very nice sounding chimes.  I hope this all helps a little.  If you have any more questions, get back with me.

John Newman
The Village Clocksmith
Old Prattvillage
Prattville, Alabama