SCHWILGUÉ, STRASBOURG, FRANCE, 1884, installer / retailer GUGUMUS FRÉRES, NANCY, FRANCE

Repair work:

The first photo shows a finished arbor. In other restorations I more fully document how rusty arbors are refurbished. A series of grits are used to finish off with 1200 in most cases. Tower clock arbors were almost never given a fine polish except in some special examples. Even at 1200 this may be beyond what the original finish was from the factory,but given the original condition it was impossible to determine. The next two photos show a minor repair. One of the remontoire wheels, which are all staked (riveted) to their collets was stripped so it was no longer firmly attached. I drilled and tapped a hole in the mating surfaces and screwed in a brass screw doped with Locktite. Then the head was sheared smooth to the surface to hide the repair. This is a better repair than a pin as the treads will hold better over time. The next photo is a minor repair of a sheared of pin that had to be drilled out to replace. The last photo shows the masking needed on parts after they are finished and just before lacquering. Proper masking takes time, but is far superior to having to remove lacquer after the fact. All surface areas of the clock with the exception of pivots, pivot holes or other  bearing surfaces are either painted, as with the cast iron frame, or coated with clear lacquer. Part shown is the repaired remontoire wheel.

The going barrel end caps were originally soldered on the barrel cylinder. The rear cap had parted from the cylinder at some time in the past. Instead of a proper repair a crude spacer was installed to keep the cap in position. This cap did not have any load bearing function as the opposite cap had the winding ratchet wheel, so this arrangement, while crude, worked. The end cap was removed, cleaned and re-soldered to the barrel. The body of the barrel showed some deformation, perhaps at some point from too mush weight being applied to the barrel. Note the masking on the barrel arbor applied before lacquering. All pivot and bearing points must be noted and covered before application of lacquer.