Tag: clock maintenance

An Ottoman style Bracket clock with Anchor recoil escapement. Rack striking on the hour and a Whittington tune playing Carillion on eight bells that is triggered every quarter of an hour via a “flick” let off lever. Although this clock was quite grubby, it clearly had not been serviced for some time. There was a lack of previous repairers marks or Botcher’s scars present. The movement required 4 handmade bushes fitting to the centre arbour and fly on the striking side.

As always with these clocks, the setup of the let off spring is vital due its precise nature of operation. Too little tension and the Flick lever does not push the rack lever off and the quarter rack does not drop. This in turn does not push both the strike lever off the strike rack. Then the warn lever isn’t held forward holding the strike train ready. On the other scale if the Flick lever spring is too tight, too much energy is absorbed from the going train trying to bend the flick causing the clock to stop. The case was also in a very similar state of repair and required a full restoration including missing and loose parts having to be manufactured.