Expert: Martin Meyer - 6/27/2007

Question
My Hamilton carriage clock stopped working, looks like no energy transfer from spring to pendulum. It was exposed to a dusty atmosphere when I remodeled recently. Any suggestions for cleaning etc would be welcome

Answer
Hi Malcolm,
    I'm not sure exactly what type of clock you have, because carriage clocks have a platform balance wheel escapement rather than a pendulum, and I don't know if it's modern or antique. So I'll try to answer your question in general terms for a mainspring-driven pendulum clock.
    It is true that construction dust, especially drywall dust, is damaging to clocks. Drywall dust draws moisture from the air and not only gums up the mechanism, but also causes corrosion.
    Unfortunately, there is no acceptable method of cleaning a clock mechanism other than completely disassembling it, gears and all, which is a rather expensive proposition and certainly a job for clockmakers only. A few repairers will clean the movement without disassembling it, but this an unworkmanlike practice and I cannot recommend against it strongly enough. The critical friction points in the clock are the holes in the plates in which the pivots (tips of the gear shafts) turn. Their tolerance is 2 to 4 thousands of an inch, and disassembly is necessary to clean inside these areas. For the same reason, spot cleaning with q-tips or the like, or blowing air into the movement is not effective.
    This being said, there are many reasons that clocks stop, carriage-style clocks are fairly well sealed, and the cause of your problem may be completely unrelated to construction dust. The diagnoses and solutions are way beyond the scope of this forum, but I would start with lubrication and putting the pendulum in beat. You can have a clock repairer do this, or find numerous sites on the web which explain how to do it.
    I hope this information is helpful. Thanks for your question.   Martin