Reply To: Black Forest Movement

[arutha]

Hi Jan,
That dial could be original, they did lots of different styles with those black forest clocks. Look where the dial fits to the movement, if you cant see any other signs of dial fixing you probably have the original dial. These clocks could be bought as kits so a clockmaker could put any dial on he liked.
I have only done a couple of these and yes you pretty much treat it as you would a standard clock. The pivots are generally a little looser in the pivot holes but not by much. As you have probably already noticed the pivots run in brass bushes which are pressed into the wood “plates”. If you do have to replace any bushes I would advise fitting new ones with a very slightly larger outer diameter bush to the original to make sure it stays in place. You will find the original bushes may be cut through their length, this is to allow them to open out slightly to help them stay in position. Before you fit your new bushes, if you have to fit any, score the outsides up a little to help them stay in place. Otherwise you are looking at a standard clock service, make sure you peg out the bushes well and get them nice and clean. It is also not unusual to find the teeth quite worn, on one of the ones I serviced one wheel in particular had the teeth worn almost half way through and it was still running!I ,am sure you wouldn’t but don’t put the wood anywhere near clock cleaning solution, just give it a bit of a polish.
Paul.