Lenzkirch Clock

[bernie weishapl]

Thought I would throw this on here to show some of the newer people that even us old guys learn something new and I took these pictures so I could see the clock before I took it apart since it was a clock I had never seen. It is a 2 weight Lenzkirch Wall clock. The lady said her mom bought it in Spain back in the 50’s when they were stationed there. She got it from her mom and whoever worked on it before did a sad, sloppy job. On the cable drums he had monofilament fishing line which I replaced with brass cable. There was suppose to be screws holding the keepers that let you take the cable drum apart to replace the cable and clean. He soldered the keepers on. So I filed off all of the solder, retapped the drum, and put a slightly oversized screw back in. The pin on the verge that goes into the slot on the pendulum was also soldered on. I probably didn’t have to mess with it but when it goes thru the shop it gets repaired properly. I unsoldered it , cleaned it up, turned a new pin and threaded it. Looks pretty good now if I say so myself. Anyway here it is in the first stages of testing. If it runs a week then I will add the dial and if it runs 2 or 3 days I will add the hands. If it runs thru 2 eight day windings and I get it timed out with the microset, I will call the customer to pick up.

[chris mabbott]

Bernie that’s a cool looking rig my friend. Is this make German or Spanish ?
It’s nice that you have a bit of history behind it, kinda sorta an interesting journey from beautiful downtown españa all the way to your workshop

Yes you are allowed to blow your own horn when a good job has been accomplished

[bernie weishapl]

Thanks Chris. It is German make. Somewhere between 1880 and 1900 as far as I can tell. Yep I have lots of clocks come thru the shop and it is always amazing at some of the stories. I have a seth thomas #18 jewelers regulator I bought that has a very interesting story I will put on here sometime. Been offered $5000 for it. I have the cuckcoo clock I bought for my dad back in the mid 60’s in Germany. When he passed he told me to take it home. He did love that clock and of course being full blooded German it meant a lot to him. He said when he went in on Normandy, fought in the battle of the bulge, etc. and told me he didn’t have time or couldn’t get one to bring home so I got him one.

[arutha]

Hi Bernie,
Lenzkirch make some beautiful clocks and some of them fetch beautiful prices too!
That clock would have originaly come with gut lines, a lot of people seem to be using mono fishing line replacement but the trouble with it is you don’t see when it is about to break, it doesn’t “fray” like the old gut lines.
I was lucky enough to pick up an old Lenzkirch bracket clock a couple of years back. So far I have only got as far as repairs to the case but I will post up some pics when I get time to work on it.
Yet another lovely job on this clock, keep up the great work
Paul.

[bernie weishapl]

Thanks Paul. I had a hunch it was suppose to be gut line. I replace some gut line on a clock 3 yrs ago or so. The gut failed in a little over a year later. I just replaced it with brass cable and it is still going. It is still running nicely today.

[daryn]

Brass cables are ok as long as the owner doesn’t forget to wind it or you put an extra half turn on the length, if it runs right down the line /cable is bent through 90 degrees not too much of this will make it snap, for this reason I never put it on fussee clocks, I’ve seen to many with all the arbors ripped out when it did snap!
Sounds like you could’ve had a dodgy batch of gut line there bernie. . .
Warm regards
Daryn

[bernie weishapl]

I very well could have Daryn. My problem is this clock was 87 miles one way away from me. So it was a 174 mile round trip to pick it up under warranty. If it had been within 30 miles or here in town I probably would have used gut again. I always put a 1/2 turn or more extra so the weight will hit the bottom before the drum is empty. In these cable wheels there would be no way they come slip out unlock some of the modern clocks because whatever is used is clamped inside the drum. Thanks again for the info Daryn.

[chris mabbott]

There’s some very useful info in this thread, thanks guys, and Bernie for posting this

[Author]

Posts