Ball Standard (Semi-Modern) Wall Clock

And just because I can't stop buying stuff, and don't want to.

It is a full on plug in electric, not battery operated, 14" diameter.

What do you think, 40's, 50's?

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I like it.
What are the two switches on the bottom on either side of the setting knob?

As I understand it they are for synching the second hand, you press the red one to stop the second hand and the black one to start it again.

The push-button portion of the black one is missing but I should be able to find a decent replacement.

It can still be set exactly in the present condition by unplugging and plugging back in.

Cool, That's a feature I've never seen on a clock!

I have two CN wall clocks that look similar but are battery operated.

On the earlier one (70's) there is only the one centre knob. The second hand stops as soon as you pull the knob, I guess you call it a hack feature, then you turn the knob to set the Hr./Min. hands.

On the newer one, (80's), as soon as you pull the knob the second hand wheels right back to zero then you set it.

Great find!

Just saw this discussion. I have this clock. It came from a Great Northern Railway yard office in MN. The second button is for synchronizing. I remember seeing this electric clock in various yard offices around St Paul back in the 1990s.

I have this clock that came out of the Corpus Christi UPRR Depot before it was torn down years ago. It was a "slave clock" that operated off an impulse off the main clock that was in the Superintendent's office.

Since I had no "master clock", I elected to have a local repairman remove the impulse works and put in a battery operated movement that gets its signal from Colorado and keeps in constant sync. It even resets itself for the correct time zone the clock is in and resets when the time changes twice a year !! I kept it's original hands on the new movement which sit underneath a heavy glass bezel.

The clock has an aluminum case that is 15" wide and deep at about 3.5". A friend gave me this clock 15 years ago who worked out of Amarillo Texas on the BNRR. He has since passed as has the local repairman who put the new movement in for me. It sits proudly in my living room foyer and seems to be quite content with it's new digs !!

regards,
bb

Sounds like a great solution. Good looking clock!
I find this interesting because I'm trying to retrofit this old Sessions with a Hammond motor to a quartz movement, since I can't keep running on the original electric motor. I'm trying to figure out what movement will work properly in it, and still keep the sweep second hand. What I read, is that a lot of the quartz movements don't recommend using the second hand as it takes too much of the battery reserve.
Thoughts welcomed.

Thanks Dave. I have several AA battery operated clocks throughout the house and they all have sweep seconds. The battery usually conks out about once a year which I consider great service !! These are just cheap WallyWorld 8" round clocks.

regards,
bb

Well Buster, After considering the quartz retrofit and concluding that most of them won't drive a large second hand like the one pictured, I think I've resolved the issues with the Hammond motor on this clock. It's back on the wall running steady for the past two days.
Reckon, I'll have to adjust it manually between Daylight and Standard time!

FYI there are "high-torque" battery movements available that are intended for those longer, heavier hands. They also have a steady moving sweep hand like an A/C electric clock. A good materials house should have them.

Sessions was a leader in the clock industry and there are so many different styles and models that it is mind boggling !! I believe they even made a mechanical clock just like yours before they went to the electric !!

regards,
bb

William, I did look at the high torque movements and was considering going that route, but I wanted to keep the look of the hands I have, and couldn't find any second hand that would look as good as the one I have. That was my biggest concern.
So, after studying the idea I think I resolved why mine wasn't running. It's been going steady now for the past week.
I think I had too much oil in the rotor/motor? In previously working on it, I found an instruction for 'flushing' out the old original lube and restoring with new oil.
And this past week I also found that if the hand nut is cranked down too tight it also causes the clock to run slow or stop.