An early 20th century Flemish carved oak and walnut longcase clock, height 240cms.

[luiazazrambo]

Hi Clockmakers and Apprentices,

i "accidentally" bought a longcase clock without actually knowing what I was about to buy, i just bid on it and noone bid on me. Purchase price was £550 +20 %. I am a bit anxious now, not sure how to fit into the house and how to tell the family. What are your thoughts?

Lui

 

[transporter]

if your worried just put it straight back into the auction

[luiazazrambo]

3 hours ago, transporter said:

if your worried just put it straight back into the auction

I wanted to see what do you think/know about the clock based only on the pictures we have.  I am going to deal with the shock that I actually won this.

[watchweasol]

Hi A it over the top for my taste, looks european it seems a bit overdone for blackforest but could be wrong, not seeing the movement is a bit of a worry though.

[oldhippy]

Did the description say it was Flemish. I'd like to see the movement to see if it has dutch striking. 

[luiazazrambo]

14 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Did the description say it was Flemish. I'd like to see the movement to see if it has dutch striking. 

Yes this was the description of it: "An early 20th century Flemish carved oak and walnut longcase clock, height 240cms." nothing more nothing less.

[Martyd]

Hi

To Me the round face looks rather strange in that case  but i do like heavily carved clocks, also to my taste a glass front would have looked better than mirror but it is what it is, still nice.

[luiazazrambo]

Case has three pieces, still in the car. Maybe I smuggle them in one by one?  Took a few pics about the movement, does not tell me a lot to be honest. It probably did not run in the last few years/decades so it needs a service/restoration probably. I have the pendulum and the weights but they do not seem to be in a good shape. One little acorn is broken off from the case but it is going to be easy to turn a new one, not sure how I will match the color though or what shall i do to the case in general. Going to take other pics once it stops raining.

[oldhippy]

The movement is a French Morbier. Here is some info on them.

http://www.antique-horology.org/_editorial/comtoise/intro.htm

[KarlvonKoln]

The detail on the case is amazing!  As  historical as it is artistic. The lady's dress, and the cut of the neckline, and the way she pins up her kerchief on her hair.  The drop spindle she's spinning wool with.  And the fellow to the right of the dial, he has those blousy kind of britches and wooden shoes, and tall spats.  And the door down below with the man carved upon it, working out of doors.  And the crest just above that.  There's enough detail you could approximate both where and when this clock was from.  I do costuming and historical re-enactment, so while I would know little about this kind of clock movement, I saw the people and details in the carving, and it's like reading a history book.

[luiazazrambo]

[oldhippy]

Nice to see the dial in good condition even if it is plain. The hands are original. The movement is what I expected to see and no it hasn't got dutch striking. It looks as if it has a dead beat escapement but the photos don't show a good close up so I'm just judging this by the shape of the pallets. Does it have a plain pendulum or one of these decorative types like this. 

 

 

[markr]

On 1/10/2023 at 3:53 AM, luiazazrambo said:

Hi Clockmakers and Apprentices,

i "accidentally" bought a longcase clock without actually knowing what I was about to buy, i just bid on it and noone bid on me. Purchase price was £550 +20 %. I am a bit anxious now, not sure how to fit into the house and how to tell the family. What are your thoughts?

Lui

 

What?  That clock.  It was here when we moved in.

[luiazazrambo]

11 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Nice to see the dial in good condition even if it is plain. The hands are original. The movement is what I expected to see and no it hasn't got dutch striking. It looks as if it has a dead beat escapement but the photos don't show a good close up so I'm just judging this by the shape of the pallets. Does it have a plain pendulum or one of these decorative types like this. 

I am going to take pics about the movement tomorrow when there is light. I got a plain folding pendulum where the piece with the hook is missing unfortunately, i have to make one and rivet it together with the existing piece. The rod was/is also very rusty cleaned up a little bit, and I am not sure about the nut at the end of the pendulum. I doubt that it is original seems like somebody forced one into its place was difficult to remove it. Something is rattling inside the pendulum, i hope its a gold coin.

Example of the pendulum from eBay:

 

 

[luiazazrambo]

Here are some pics about the movement and about the pendulum & pendulum folding rod, as I said the piece with the hook is missing apart from this the movement seem to be complete and functional.

[oldhippy]

Sure looks to be a dead beat escapement. That will clean up nice. 

[luiazazrambo]

There was a layer of glossy paint all over the place which made the surface uneven as it was sometime too think or non existent. The top plate was also painted with it, including screws and brass parts. I assume it was not original. I sanded scraped it off. In the other hand rust was poking through this paint so i think this paint protected the frame in a certain extent and the damage would have been greater without it. I dont know if it was originally painted or not, it might have had a thin layer of black paint, but the plates probably were heat treated and immersed in oil? It is only my impression not sure about it. Shall I go and spray a mat thin layer of industrial black paint on it? (after plugging the holes)

[oldhippy]

Yes it would originally have been black.  

[luiazazrambo]

Spent some of my lunch time to spray it while there was natural light there. I plugged the threaded holes and pivot holes with used rodico before spraying.

Edited January 19, 2023 by luiazazrambo

[oldhippy]

Nice work. It will look nice when all the other parts are cleaned and new lines fitted. 

[luiazazrambo]

3 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Nice work. It will look nice when all the other parts are cleaned and new lines fitted. 

Could you please give me some advice for the lines? Where and what to buy? I noticed that the time train had red and the other one had white line? Is that common?

[oldhippy]

Normally they are red. Here is a link. It says for comtoise clocks. They are the same the reason the names are different is because they were made in a different area in France. 

https://www.cousinsuk.com/sku/details/lines-ropes-cords/r55249

Edited January 19, 2023 by oldhippy

[luiazazrambo]

http://www.morbier-clocks.de/

[oldhippy]

Thank you for the link. 

[luiazazrambo]

Half of the parts are cleaned, a bit of laborious work to clean all of these wheels tooth by tooth and they have many, spent a few hours with them.

And these are my heavy weight champions. They seemed to be black and also had some paper stick to them showing nothing now. The hooks are a bit flat... i don't like them. If I heat up the top cover with my torch would the top bit come off?