Reply To: American Mechanical Clocks

[Bob Tascione]

Good to see you Clam71!
I would guess the bob weight would be between 2 to 3 ounces. If you put the word “bob” into TimeSavers search you should get a few in that range to choose from. They may even have one just for Waterbury mantels.

To disassemble your movement you should capture the mainsprings with a c-retainer (clamp) or wrap some heavy bailing wire around the spring and give the wire a few twists to secure it. I usually use stainless hose clamps. Bailing wire and hose clamps can be found at home depot etc. There’s a section online in video 2 of the clock course that covers using wire and c retainers. You will need some type of mainspring winder to let the springs down for inspection and cleaning after removing them from the movement and to wind them up again for reassembly. I cover a couple of winders and how to use them at the end of the same video if you want to check them out. One is very inexpensive and works well for open spring American clock movements.

Sorry to say I don’t know of anyone specializing in just hairspring vibrating. There are some people that will vibrate hairsprings when doing complete restorations. You might try http://ptpwp.com as I believe they may do hairspring repair and vibrating without having to do a complete overhaul but I’m not sure. I do know that it’s pretty expensive to have done now. I used to use Guy Colantino but he passed away years ago. He was very reasonable and a true artist as he woked for many years as a hairspring specialist for a large American watch manufacturer. Sadly the great masters have or are disappearing.

Hope this helps,
Enjoy Clam!
Bob