This Seth Thomas tambour mantel clock with quarter-hour striking was made around the 1930s. The case is 17 1/8 inches wide and 9.5 inches tall. The minute hand is 2 5/16″ from center to tip. The dial is aluminum with printed on numerals.
This clock strikes bim-bam once on the first quarter, twice on the second quarter and three times on the third quarter. On the hour it strikes the number of the hour on a single note.
Repair job 7009. This movement, No. 89 L, says “PAT APPL’D FOR” at the upper left of the back plate. The strike mainspring is original and is a nice, thin 3/4″ x 0.0165″ spring. The time mainspring was a replacement made by “Usibel France” and was a too-strong 0.0182″ thick. I replaced it with an R & M 3/4 x 0.0176 x 120″ mainspring (note: this was back in 2017, now I recommend the German-made 11/16″ x 0.015″ by 108″ spring, such as the MS298 from Merritt’s).
I polished the pivots and installed 17 bushings. There was no wear to the strike mainwheel teeth, and the time mainwheel had only 3% wear, in spite of the very strong replacement mainspring. It probably didn’t run long after that previous repair job, thankfully.
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