This is a new one for me. I just purchased a Gilbert Mantle clock. Part of the reason was the odd position of the face. It is 90 deg cw to Normal. I have never seen a clock like this. It appears to be factory. What was the reasoning behind a face positioned lke this? Even the wife liked it. Any comments about this would be welcomed.
Bob B

This is the eBay link.
When I emailed him this was his reply.

Boy I must really be asleep. I rebuilt the movement and never noticed that. That is the way I received it. Too many clocks I guess. I am going to have to pull it off ebay. If you want it like it is you can have it for $100.00 plus shipping. I runs great. Thanks, Jim

In another email he said he would send me a 50 dollar check with the clock.
Bob still confused.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6628...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Hey, it's a bedside clock, so you can tell what time it is whilst lying down.

Andy

Hi Andy. That is "exactly" what I told my wife.
LM rear O It will go in the bed room for sure.

Could something like this possibly have made it out of the Gilbert factory! Or is it more likely a replacement face that was wrong? How could you put this thing on even as a replacement with out detecting it?

In all honesty I looked at this clock 5 minutes b4 I noticed it.

Bob B

That is very strange!! At first I thought the dial was a replacement and the holes put in the wrong place, but I noticed the lettering is at the bottom of the dial, where it should be.

Can't wait to see what ideas come from this.

The dial looks to be new. My guess is somebody's photo shop program got one graphic messed up.

Is it a paper dial or enamel?

I don't know Greg? I should get this clock early next week. I will post some updates then.

I wonder when this thing strikes? By the current face or the traditional position of 12:00?

Great question Bob. Logic would indicate that unless the movement were installed sideways, which makes setting the beat a trifle difficult, it would strike when the minute hand points straight up. But then...... The dial is one surprise, can't wait to see what is on the inside.

Keep us posted!!

What happens when it chimes? Does it chime twice at the two on the dial or five times? That should tell you if it is a "bedside" clock.

Hello Mark
I am waitong on the clock to arrive. Probably be here mid week. I will keep this thread informed.
Bob B

I must ammend a previous statement. It was pointed out to me that the obvious fix for having it strike when the XII is at the "3 o'clock" position is to simply move the position of the minute hand on the shaft. The shaft is square and the minute hand can go any of four ways.

So...if the dial is a printing error, you could still make it strike at "XII". Can't wait til you get the clock and we get to know .......the rest of the story!

Well the odd ball arrived.
I have posted photos of the face and it appears to be a paper or plastic? A close up of the printing shows the dot pattern and what appears to be a smuge of ink right after the word Winsted.
Also it strikes in the normal XII position. I guess I could give the minuter hand a quarter turn forward and really mess with one mind!
Thank for pointing that out Tom.

The face is held on with 3 screws spaced 120 deg. apart. I had expected 4 screws. Also the paper face is crimped into the brass ring? I am not sure if this is normal for this clock?

I have not removed the face to see what is behind the face? Possible original screw holes? The movement is signed Gilbert. One can see two other movement screw holes in the case that suggests it is not the original movement. A couple of the bush holes were showing black oil around them. This clock was just serviced! I think I read that this is a sign of a dip and dunk type cleaning. Not a total disassembly type service.
Oh well I still like it even though I probably got rocked pretty bad. I did get 50 bucks off when I pointed out to him the problem with the face. But I still paid 100.00 for it.
Ok it's time to quit beating up on myself. It is still a great conversation piece.

The crimp

Your dial is a paper dial, that was replaced. Only someone pasted the new dial 90 degrees off. Timesavers will sell you another paper dial. You can repaste a new one on correctly, and reset the strike, and you'll be fine.

Great photos Bob,
I think I would rotate the hand, keep the odd ball dial and, as was suggested, use it by the bed where you naturally look sideways at it.

It is a great conversation piece!

Thanks for posting it.

Really Tom you don't notice the dial being off. At least I don't. When I look at a clock My mind does not look at the numbers! It sees the hand positions first. My wife took it to school and posted it on the Second grade bulliten board,The kids just finished Roman numerals and clocks and not one student noted the face being off. but read the time as if it were a norman face! She is going to post it in the teachers lounge next and see if any adults notice it. Should be fun.

Hello Steve. Yes I am considering doing that. At least have it on hand in case I tire of this clock and wish to move it on. So far every clock and pocket watch I purchase are almost family to me.
Bob B

Bob,
Having taught 4th graders for over 34 years I can appreciate the experiment your wife has done. What we think we see is largely based on what we expect to see. I am liking that clock more all the time!!

If Steve is correct, then tell me folks, how could this guy have printed the Gilbert data on the bottom. Have you seen those credits beside the 3 position? I can see the holes punched in the incorrect location but not have the company signature in the III position.
--just wondering....
Moses

Next problem, I noticed in the eBay listing he claimed this clock was in his "personal collection". How can that be when he never noticed it. Ha, fat chance. Was his collection was formed last week and his wife determined this week one or the other has to go? I believe there is just a few too many incongruities here to happen that way.
Moses

Moses,
the only thing I can think of is that the dial was made on some program like PhotoShop. The user probably has a file with manufacturers names to use on the perimeter, and files with various number types to use for the various dials. He combines the chapter rings with the manufacturers name and - presto - a new old dial. Only in this case one of the graphics was rotated 45 degrees. Not so easy to tell at first glance when working with a circle.

It was printed incorrectly and we have a mystery clock.

Nay you are all wrong that is a hunting case clock movement in a open face clock case..

Moses. The two questions you mentioned also have bothered me. The Trademark being in the wrong position ! And him not noticing the face when this was in his collection! I smell a rat! Still I am ok with the purchase and the seller did give me a refund of 50 bucks and also an offer to back out of the purchase. Would I buy from him again ??? Probably not.
My gut feeling is it was a pieced together clock movement and case. The case appears to have been totally refinished and signd of repair inside and extra movement holes inside.
I look at this as part of my learning experience, questions to ask and things to look for.
eBay is always a bt of a gamble.

Tom,
I thought the same thing as you with a Photoshop layout gone wrong. Still you would have to have your head in the wrong place to do this.

I think i will remove the face tonight and look at the back side of the face and see if any clues are on the reverse side of the paper face. The front side has a ? plastic coating over it. Not sure if it is a do it yourself lamination job on one side or both sides? I also would like to see if there are extra holes in the case from a prior face assembly.
Are their software programs out there for making clock faces?
Bob

Sami I will keep an eye out for the Closed face hunter clock case.

A CD/DVD labelling software package might be a way to make clock dials. I have an inexpensive one that allows images to be placed on the label and text to be placed on the label anywhere. The disks are about 4 3/4" in diameter and so are the precut labels. A plain dial could be scanned into the computer and the image added to the label, the text added, and then the label could be printed on regular paper or photo paper and trimmed to fit. If the clock has a 5" dial there would be only 1/8" or so of margin showing. Since the hole in the center of a CD is too big for the handshaft, the precut labels wouldn't work. It would be easy to forget to check the orientation of the image of the dial layout on the label before printing.