Expert: John Newman - 9/11/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have a clock that I purchased at a gift shop in Virginia Beach back in the early 80's. It is mounted on an oak plaque with an external bell mounted above the clock. It is made of solid brass with a beveled glass crystal that screws on to the clock face. the only thing printed any where on the clock is on the face. It say's ship's time and quartz. the movement went bad many years ago. It wouldn't stop ringing. I don't have the original movement any more, I don't know what happened to it. It probably got lost while moving. I do remember that the only thing written on the movement was made in Japan. there was nothing else on or in the movement that would have indicated any model or manufacturer. The closest thing I could find was a very similar clock made by Bey-Berk. I l already checked with them but their movement could not be mounted in it. I could just mount an plain jane movement in it but I would really like to have the bell working. It has been silent for about 20 years.

ANSWER: Tom,I apologize for the delay in my answer, but my computer has had a virus and my emails were mixed, and I am just getting notice of your question.  Thanks for including the photo.  From the looks of it and your description, it seems like the movement probably consisted of a quartz timepiece and a mechanical bell.  I have worked on this type and there is a pin on the strike mechanism the stops the bells after the proper count.  If if it is broken, the bells will not stop until the mainspring has wound down.  Am I correct in assuming the bell on the plaque is for show and does not actually ring?  It is interesting that it seems like ships bell clock movements come and go on the market.  I will see some offered and then they will not be available.  I have checked one supplier and they don't list one right now.  I will check some more sources and see what I can find.  I might have one in stock myself and will look for it when I return to my shop the first of next week.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I remember a company that does manufacture one and will see if they are still available.  Again, I'm sorry for the delay.

John Newman
THE VILLAGE CLOCKSMITH
Old Prattvillage
Prattville, Alabama


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

QUESTION: It was a quartz movement. The bell was not for show. The hammer was on a shaft that stuck through a slot in the brass body of the clock. I'm attaching another photo from a different angle so you can see the slot. The hammer struck the inside edge of the bell

Answer
Tom, I do not remember a quartz (or any) ship's bell movement with the mechanical bell that has the striker coming out of the top.  It could be that a standard movement was used and the striker was modified.  This gets into a situation where the clockmaker needs to have the complete assembly in hand and then research the possible movements that might fit or be modified to work on that type of set up.  I will see if I can find anything the first of the week and let me know.  In the meantime, can you contact me at my shop email address below?  Then I can reply directly to you with the details and it will free up the Allexperts question queue, as only so many questions are allowed per day.

John Newman
THE VILLAGE CLOCKSMITH
Old Prattvillage
Prattville, Alabama
klokdok@juno.com

Note:  Because of the number of Allexpert questions and follow ups,
and the excessive backlog in my shop, I regret that I can only answer
the Allexperts related questions in a timely manner.