I’m always thrilled to find truly old things at thrift stores. This clock was instantly recognizable as being a true antique when I found it on a shelf with a motley assortment of quartz wall clocks and electric clock-radios at the Goodwill on SE Grand. It was priced at $8, ‘as is’. I greedily snatched it up and took it home, feeling like a thief after I checked out and paid the token price.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_2_placeholder\n
The only writing on the case is a fragment of a label on the back, with some handwriting in pencil. It looks like…<\/p>\n
Ba(l|b)(y|g|s)
\nShar(p|f)(unk.)(u w\/ umlaut|i)(d|2)
\nJune 22, 189(7|9)
\nE?&(l|b)(unk.)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_3_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_4_placeholder\n
On first glance I was worried the movement was incomplete because of all of the vacant screw holes. I think the frame is actually provisioned for a few different variations of the mechanism though, maybe some kind of date display thing because of the ‘window’ in the front plate?<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_5_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_6_placeholder\n
The movement has a few makers markings. ‘W\u00fcrttemberg Uhrenfabrik’ and a stylized ‘WUS’ logo with the text ‘B\u00fcrk’ beneath. Based on similar logos found in Mikrolisk’s [1] database I think this movement was made by W\u00fcrttembergische Uhrenfabrik B\u00fcrk S\u00f6hne [2]. <\/p>\nngg_shortcode_7_placeholder\n
Output shaft and the geartrain for setting the clock.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_8_placeholder\n
Backside of the dust cover. Hand formed and soldered modification to make the ‘sealed’ area smaller.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_9_placeholder\n
Also interesting is a bit of text visible on the piece used in modifying the dust cover. <\/p>\nngg_shortcode_10_placeholder\n
The hands are two pieces soldered together as well.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_11_placeholder\n
Another dust cover strip on the side removed reveals the rest of the movement.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_12_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_13_placeholder\n
The spring was wound absurdly tightly already, I gave it a bit of a crank not knowing this and am probably lucky I didn’t break it. I gave the balance wheel a bit of a shove and it actually started right up… It’s been running for two days now. Kinda want it to stop so I can leave it be and avoid putting any more wear on the parts. <\/p>\n
I have a feeling the case is not original, though it’s clearly quite old. Not sure how I’d go about further tracing that aspect of it. <\/p>\n
[1]: http:\/\/www.mikrolisk.de\/show.php?site=280&suchwort=W%C3%BCrttembergische&searchWhere=all#sucheMarker<\/p>\n
[2]: http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/W%C3%BCrttembergische_Uhrenfabrik_B%C3%BCrk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m always thrilled to find truly old things at thrift stores. This clock was instantly recognizable as being a true antique when I found it on a shelf with a motley assortment of quartz wall clocks and electric clock-radios at … Continue reading