r&r radios - WILL
I recently finished my fourth clock, which I found on Ebay in February. The clock was made by the Cuckoo Clock Manufacturing company no more recently than the 70s. I know this as up until that point, they made their own movements, then switched to Regula. This came with no weights or pendulum. As it is multi-colored, I bought an unfinished pendulum and was able to stain it to get a really good match. To determine the weight needed, I attached a wire loop to a tin can and filled it with varying amounts of pea gravel until I found a weight that worked, which turned out to be 500 grams. While waiting for the weights to arrive, I came up with a better method to finish testing the clock. I made some weights out of plastic spice bottles with a wire loop. I then used a combination of fishing weights to get to 500g. Pictures and documents are here including my fancy weights: Cuckoo Clock Mfg Clock Detail Video
Some pictures of the clock when I received it and after repairs as well as a description of what I have done can be found here: Langlotz Clock Detail
Learning from this inspired me to find other clocks to restore. In October of 2023 I got serious about it and started searching for clocks. Cuckoos are not very popular where I live so after scouring local antique shops, I turned to searching online. I discovered that Goodwill has their own auction site. I have bought the bulk of my clocks there but did find a few bargains on Ebay as well. So far (April 2024) I have bought 15 clocks and have finished 5. It has been fun to learn how to resolve various issues with them and try to learn about the history of them. I say try as it is interesting/frustrating that few cuckoo clock makers actually put any manufacturing marks or dates on their clocks. Here is a brief description of 4 of the 5 clocks I have finished. The 5th I will be bringing along to the re-union, so Ill leave that discussion until then.
The first clock I bought was from Goodwill in Wellsboro, MA. It was made by a company called Duffner in Triberg, Germany somewhere between 1936 and 1954. Before and after pictures, a short video and my notes (history.md) can be found here: Duffner Clock Detail Video
This is the clock after I finished it.
I have always had a fascination for clocks and marveled at the people who figured out how to make them work and keep accurate time. A couple of years ago, I asked Rich to send me our Grandparents' (Langlotz) cuckoo clock that we grew up with so I could try to restore it. It had not been in use for 30-40 years. We are not positive of its age, but I sent pictures to a few clock parts dealers and they feel it was from around 1900-1910.
Fortunately, the mechanical pieces had no real issues. I did have to replace the quail bird. However, the case needed extensive repairs to re-mount the movement, the top had several broken pieces and some decorative wood trim was missing. Also, the quail whistle and bellows were broken, but I was able to repair that. Many of the numerals were missing or broken. Rich 3D printed new ones and I put them on except for the 12. It was intact, so I thought I would keep one original. I don't recall ever seeing finials on the clock. They were there at one time so I added them. Some of you may have seen the clock if you were in the Langlotz house. Here it is today (click on images to view full size):
Clock #2 I found on Goodwill from Rappahanock, VA. This one was made by Hubert Herr, also in Triberg. I don't have a date for it. This had no hands, bellows or bellow wires, so I got to learn how to make my own lift wires from piano wire. It is the only 8 day clock I have bought so far. This means it only needs to be wound every 8 days. All of the others are 30 hour movements. Notes and pictures are here:
Herr-Rappahannock Clock Detail Video
Here is the finished product.
The third clock was part of a lot of 3 that I found on Ebay. This one is fairly generic. I dont know the clock make, but the movement is a Regula. Since the 70s or so, they make over 75% of the movements in all cuckoo clocks manufactured in Germany. My documents on this one are here:
The last clock I finished, literally, today when I finished this write-up. I found this on Goodwill from Cleveland. This might be my favorite so far. That is because it worked (almost) as soon as I unboxed it and hung it up! I will be bringing that one with me and will describe it at the reunion.