A lady called saying she had just finished the cabinet on an Emperor Kit clock and that she could not get the clock to run. She said it was a "new" old movement. Someone had purchased the kit in 1978 and had never finished it. She purchased it at a garage sale and was very proud of her find and that she was able to finish the case. After the discussion about what could be wrong, I suggested she bring me the movement. I told her I likely could put the movement on a stand and make it go. Once I had the movement in my hands, the following is what I found. The movement had been stored in a damp crawl space since 1978. I think I have enough "used" wheels in my archives to get the clock movement going. All of the levers on the front plate were seized tight.

For some reason, the pivots were tight in the plates.

WOW! you have your work cut out for yourself on that one!

The information that I've found is that the Hermle movements from the mid 70's to late 79 or 1980 had low grade steel in their arbors. My experience with these is; the information is correct, you can file out the grooves polish up the pivots (they don't burnish too well) bush the plates, put it back togeather and have a clock that won't last too long. Around 1979 or so Hermle improved their material quality and took care or this problem. I look at the date on the movement and if it's between 1975 and 1980 I recommend replacing it with a new movement. It's not worth the time, effort, and expence to end up with a job that won't last. Give Mark Butterworth a call (1-800-258-5418) he'll fix you right up. This is just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

Hello Again, My friend in the US has a SHED FULL of these type of movements, Apparently theres a guy in town who doesn't even try and fix them he just fits new movements. My friend is too busy attending to quality clocks to mess with these. When in town my friend calls by and picks up another box of scrap to add to the pile, Good job he has a large barn. Regards, Ged.

The clock movement is running. I found two replacement wheels in the “archives.” It would have been better to replace a couple more, but I did not have them.
When I contacted the owner of the clock, I gave two options. One was to replace the movement and the other was to try to make the one she had work. I specified that there was no guarantee on her movement. She chose to try to salvage the original movement as the price was less than half of replacement.
I also am an advocate of replacement movements, but this time it was not my choice. I expect the lifespan of an inferior movement has been shortened considerably.
Best regards,
Dick