Internet Horology Club 185
Best price I ever got on a clock

This topic can be found at:
https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9886029761/m/298106702

December 07, 2009, 17:00
Mike Sandell
Best price I ever got on a clock
I got this Smith Enfield regulator at a auction a few years ago for 30.00.It did not work the cystal was missing.I got a crystal at otto frie for 15-20 had it service for 45.00 about 80.00 in it.The funny thng some one had a bicyle spoke to hang the pendulum on but it keep great time.It runs 8 days gongs on the hour and halve hours.I have never seen another I guess they were not great seller's.

December 19, 2009, 14:43
Ray Hallenbeck
Very nice clock at a great price Mike.

Ray
December 20, 2009, 13:46
John Woolsey
Nice clock Mike, and a great deal from the sounds of it.

There were probably plenty around at one time, but like all these type clocks, they suffered from damp conditions in their day and fell apart from worm and glue failure, just like the fake slate clocks did.
Movements also broke, and were probably more expensive to repair than replace, so they got dumped.

One time when I visited the International Antiques fair in Newark UK, stuff like this plus 'springer' dial clocks, were just piled up in big heaps - take you pick at a 'tenner a time'
Should have loaded the car up Roll Eyes

John
December 25, 2009, 08:50
Mike Sandell
John
Any idea what year these were made?I thought the 1940's-1950's
May 12, 2011, 13:49
William N. McCormick
Hello! I am a new member of IHC but have been repairing clocks for over 50 years. When I was a young and newly married airman in the USAF stationed in Bangor, Maine - I was stationed with the Civil Engineering sq. I was an office guy. There was in the office several civilian cost estimators, one of which said he had an old clock I might like. I asked "how much" and since he knew I was a subscriber to PLAYBOY said "6 recent issues" . The New Haven time-only (wall regulator) clock came to me. It was 33" long, and 18" wide. Someone had painted the case red, white and blue and painted a clown face on the 12" dial. What a mess! The paint from the dial had "slopped" into the movement freezing it up. It must have taken 3 weeks to strip the paint from the beautiful golden oak case and then refinish same. The dial plate was ok so I did a paper dial from Swarthchild & Co. in Boston (went out of business some 30 years ago) . Movement cleaned up great. The cost was the greatest. It is still in our kitchen some 46 years later working great. Sometimes you CAN get a great deal! AND YOUR CLOCK IS BEAUTIFUL!


William N. McCormick
May 12, 2011, 14:40
Buster Beck
Back when I was a wee lad many moons ago Smile

My Dad/Mom owned a coin & antique shoppe. Along about '63-'64 my Dad was buying huge lots from out of Canada of clocks. They would arrive at our house in humongous cardboard boxes and took a forklift to unload Eek Seriously these boxes were 5ftx5ft square Eek The boxes were big enough that all the neighborhood kids would make "forts" out of them and let the battles begin Big Grin

Anyways we took many shipments of these clocks and they were mostly depot and kitchen clocks. They were all painted in several coats of different colors of the brightest & gaudiest shades of enamel. They were like accent pieces and each new owner or every-time a color scheme was changed, out came another layer of different colored enamel Roll Eyes Each coat came off only one at a time and we stripped all of these and refinished them and overhauled the works. It was a long and tedious process and the chemicals were very toxic. I learned to hate those old clocks Mad as I had better things to do like "Battle Stations". Oh I'm sorry, this was so long ago~ when the whole family worked together and pulled together. Kids today would be dialing 9-11 to report child abuse Roll Eyes

To an end to this story I feel sure we bought, stripped,refurbished,reworked, and resold at least 500 of these clocks before the supply seemed to dry up. These clocks were bought for the sum of $5.00 each which included shipping Eek

A true story from the annals of time when dinosaurs walked the earth Cool

regards,
bb
May 14, 2011, 10:10
Werner Rosier
A very nice piece you have there Mike, and a very good read is this thread Smile

Thanks


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