Found this on Christmas Eve. Listed incorrectly as an Astonia mantle clock
So here's my Christmas present to myself! According to what I've found it's branded "Cetus".

Nice clock Dave, it has four of my favorite things in a clock

Crystal regulator
Open escapement
Mercury pendulum
It's an Ansonia

Curly

Thanks guys, So far, that picture is about all I know about it. Should get it this week.
I was looking for two of the four, Curly. The open escapement and Ansonia. I didn't have either. This clock will be a learning experience. I don't have a clue about the mercury pendulum. Can't be real mercury, can it? I think they are definitely faux, but evidently at one time it was a practice. And the movement is a round design, also foreign to me.

Hi Dave,

Very pretty crystal regulator. I really like that pendulum. As I said the other day when we talked, I can't wait to see some more pictures. I spoke with my friend, It could be a real mercury or simulated pendulum. I had him look up in the Ansonia book, the latest one he had was 2004. It listed it somewhere in the $400 range. As we all know, clocks have come down a bit. But you still have a great bargain. Keep us posted.

Thanks, Tim

If it is real mercury (Hg) in the pendulum, it is a liquid at room temperature. You should be able to find the air bubble at whatever portion of the pendulum is held upward, and watch it move as you move the pendulum. Also, weight of Hg in air is about 13.5 g/cc. Any other material in the glass tubes is likely to be considerably lighter, so It should be possible to estimate the volume of the cylinders and determine if it is Hg by weighing it.

If the tubes are metal, they are not filled with Hg.

If you determine that the pendulum is filled with Hg, do not open the vials, unless you absolutely must. Hg is absorbed into the body both by breathing the fumes, and through skin contact.

Got the clock today! No bad surprises. One small chip on the backside bevelled glass. Set it on the shelf, hung the pendulum and away she went. Clock was listed as non-running. I suspect the pendulum is not real mercury based on your comments David. Thanks for the insight. So far it does not strike on the hour or half hour, but I haven't wound it at all. Thought I'd just let it settle in and see what happens out of the box before I do anything else.

Nice Dave, very nice. Love the looks of that pendulum!!!

Seen one like that sell for $275.00 last week.

I have always liked those exposed Brocot escapements on Ansonia clocks. So far as I know, some of those Ansonias came with real mercury pendulums (penduli ? ) I think that was an option on those models, but most people did not bother to pay the extra cash for them.

That is a very nice looking example of the early 1900's "American Crystal Regulator".

Since I bought this clock I've been watching for mercury pendulums and they are pretty scarce, especially to find one completely intact.

All I've done with my clock so far is to set it up and start it, and observe the operation. Haven't wound it yet, and it's ran for 4 days but losing time.
It will need service as it only strikes once on the hour and not at all on the half hour.
And I've noticed that the rack stays in the 1 o'clock position and fails to drop back toward the snail, after striking.
I'm going to have to revue what I thought I new about rack and snail sequence to resolve this problem!

The most likely culprit in the striking department is that someone put oil on the rack pivot and it has oxidized and become gummy. It is a relatively easy chore to remove the rack and clean off the pivot, and clean out the tube. Because it does not have any loading on it, the rack does not have to be oiled: I always assemble them clean and dry.

As to the slow running, I can see from the photo that the pendulum is run down nearly all the way on the rod. Were I you, I'd crank that sucker up a bit and see if it still runs. If it does, you can probably get it to keep time - there's lots of free room left in the flatted portion of the pendulum rod.

Most likely, that clock would benefit from a disassembly and cleaning. You will need a serious spring winder to deal with the springs in the barrels. One of those little hand-held winders can do it, but they take a lot of hand strength, and are dangerous, If a mainspring "gets Away" from you it can tear your hand or arm up pretty badly.

If you don't have a good spring winder, you can probably get away with leaving the springs in the barrels, and just do a thorough cleaning on everything else. I realize that is tantamount to heresy, but I got along for a couple of years when I first started messing aro0und with my own clocks without removing springs from barrels. IF they were really crudded up, I sloshed them around in a coffee can with about an inch or so of kerosene (which I stole out of my furnace by opening the bleeder valve). After cleaning with that, I rinsed them out with naptha, followed by a rinsing with alcohol and a thorough drying. (Both naptha and alcohol are available at Lowes or Home Depot in one quart containers in the paint department.) I then put a few drops of motor oil on them, and put the cap back on the barrel, and put them back in service. Bob Goodman used to use 30W motor oil on clock mainsprings. He would dunk the unwound spring into a five gallon bucket of motor oil, and then wipe the spring down with a rag.

If you are considering tool purchases, your first order of business should be to get some good screwdrivers, and a set of let-down keys. I like the double-ended ones that snap into a handle, sort of like the old Excelite nut drivers. They are either 7/16" or 11mm across the flats, and can be used with a deep well socket. That was the basis for my home made spring winder.

About screwdrivers: Place your emphasis on getting ones made with good steel. Avoid the ones that are plated; they will not hold up, and if the plating is ground off, they are usually very soft. Good screwdrivers can be reshaped to fit the screw slot exactly. That makes the job of disassembly much easier, and avoids tearing up the edges of the screw slots. Screwdriver handles with grooves in them may look like a good idea, under the premise that they have less tendency to slip in the hand, but really, smooth handles are much easier to work with. IF you have to really "gronk" on the screws to loosen them, grooved handles will give you blisters. I like screwdrivers with plain wood handles, but they are hard to find. Often you can pick them up for less than a dollar at farm auctions, but they have nearly always been used as pry bars and chisels. If you are willing to do the work to straighten their shanks, and re-shape the ends, they are usually well worth the time and effort.

I tried this method on a crystal regulator many years ago,and it worked pretty good . I took the movement out of the case and got a couple of spray cans of clock wash ( carburetor cleaner works to ) I then sprayed all the gunk out of the movement and sprayed all the pivot holes until clean. The cleaner dries very quickly, and leaves no residue. I then re oiled all pivot holes . re installed and the clock ran great for many years. Not the correct way ,but it works pretty good, Gets rid of all dried oil and gunk .

David/Tom, Thanks for the info.
I had fully planned to tear it down completely for cleaning and lubrication. But, before I do that I just wanted to see how long it would run. I bought the clock as a non running clock, knowing that many seller don't know how to even start one. I did notice the pendulum is at it's lowest point without the rating nut falling off.

But during my observation period now, I see that the gathering pallet is not advancing enough to allow the rack to return to the snail. So, upon reassembly I'll have to make a slight adjustment. Thinking that 3 pin arbor will have to be rotated slight on the shaft.
You can see the second tooth on the rack against the pin at the bottom right.

Looks like somebody got onto the clock who was a little heavy-handed. The gathering pallet looks pretty beat up, and I don't like the angle of the suspension spring, relative to the leader, and I don't like the way the pendulum rod in not hanging in a straight line with the leader. Whoever was in the clock last also didn't get the retaining wire properly formed around the end of the arbor for the strike hammer. All those things, when added together, tell me that an amateur has been messing about in this clock. Bet you the gathering pallet was on right, but when the amateur assembled it, he got the wheel a tooth or two off, and tried to fix it by changing the rotation of the gathering pallet. Then, in order to keep it from falling off the arbor, he had to beat it up.

Got the Ansonia back in commission. Tore it down, cleaned and lubed it and spent about three days trying to get the strike timing right. Finally got it right by removing the gathering pallet and positioning it correctly. Should have done this from the start. Would have saved me a lot of time. But it was a nice learning experience.

Very nice looking. I am curious. How did you go about cleaning the dial and bezel(s)?

Some of those dials had inked-on numbers, and don't take kindly to being scrubbed.

Great job brother!!!

Tim

Thanks guys, The dial was really in good shape when I got it. I did clean the center piece with sudsy water, but the outside section I "dry cleaned" with just a mild wiping. Didn't want to chance it.
Was tempted to polish the brass, but decided to go with "patina". And it's a lot less trouble.

I really like that one as well. Haven't found one local and have all but given up on anything being shipped. Very nice.