Sussex clock repairs

24/10/2024

How beautiful is this?! Pendulum and weights possible enjoying their first time in the sun. I love how the shadow creates a movement on the (momentarily) still hanging weights.

15/10/2024

Don’t let the season catch you off guard - get everything running like clockwork! Pun definitely intended.

We don’t want to alarm anyone, but Christmas is only 70-odd days away! If you’re hosting this year and want your clock running smoothly for the celebrations, now’s the time to get it booked in. Be sure to act soon, after November 15th, I can’t guarantee delivery before Christmas. Let’s get your clock holiday-ready so you’ll be able to see in the New Year in style.

13/10/2024

Here’s a glimpse of a few steps I often find myself repeating in the workshop. I actually made this wheel twice before it was close enough to the original. Sometimes the result isn’t quite right, so you remake it until it’s just perfect. Both wheels would have functioned perfectly fine and exactly the same, but I was only happy with the wheel on the right of the last picture.

05/10/2024

05/10/2024

This week in the workshop, I had the pleasure of being accompanied by the bells of an English fusee bracket clock with pull quarter work. Such a beautiful sound!

11/08/2024

A highlight this week was crafting a 24-hour date wheel for a 17th century clock restoration. To keep it historically accurate, I repurposed a clock plate from another 17th century piece. Over the years I’ve built up a significant collection of scrap movements, which I can harvest from to ensure my restorations stay true to the period.

22/07/2024

When the clock I was working on was missing the original hand for the strike/silent, you just can’t beat the traditional techniques and pierce the hand out of steel by hand rather than using fancy machines.

04/07/2024

This is a mainspring winder that my much younger brother and I made many years ago. Not only has this given me years of loyal service, it also started my brother on his engineering career, as he took it to his apprenticeship interview and later he was told that helped him get the job.
If I can’t find or I not like the tools you can buy, I make my own.

20/06/2024

Although the clock was functioning adequately, I noticed the hammer spring was bent, which explained why the clock was struggling and hard to set up the strike as the hammer was drawing back too far. After straightening the hammer spring and correcting the position of the hammer, the clock now operates as intended by its maker.

While not every clockmaker would address this issue since the clock was technically working, I go the extra mile to ensure each clock performs at its best. As these are antiques, to make sure they can keep running for as long as possible, I always try to keep the wear to a minimum.

Swipe for the after pictures

11/06/2024

Every so often, I visit a second hand tool shop, because I rather have old fashioned tools with wooden handles for my job than those brand new plastic handled tools. A couple of months ago I went with my 13 month old daughter. Without my knowledge she had picked up a screwdriver and used the handle as a teether. Since then, this has become my favourite screwdriver, with the little teeth marks as a charming reminder of her.