A lot of persons nowadays are into making collections. Their collections may range from small action figures to antique clocks or grandfather clocks. Among those who collect the latter, getting information about the individual parts that make up every single piece of their collection is interesting.

Antique clocks parts are very exquisite in the sense that they come in eye-catching designs. Some may even contain artworks on their clock dials that give them a more elegant and classic appearance.

Among the most frustrating things that antique clock collectors have to face aside from thinking about where to look for the next piece to add to their collection, is getting the ones already at hand broken. This can be very frustrating for some in the sense that some antique grandfather clock parts or antique clock repair parts are very hard to find.

In restoring antique clocks, some of the basic steps you need to take note of would be: first, you need to check what type of grandfather clock you have in hand. They can either be antique or modern. For example clocks made by Howard Miller, Sligh, or Ridgeway are classified as modern as to the reason that they were built within the last 50 years or so and were fitted with modern German movements in them coming from Hermle, Urgos, or Kieninger companies. However, you need to keep in mind as well that the weight placement rules for these clocks may be different to those in American, English, and Continental grandfather clocks. Second would be, knowing what is wrong or damaged in the clock. This damages or malfunctions may be: the pendulum does not swing, the clock runs too fast or slow, weights are not properly placed, or chimes are out of sequence.

After determining the type of antique clock you are going to repair, the next important step you need to do would be finding the right antique clock parts suppliers. Go online or try visiting local shops near you and list the prices of the parts you need. You can even go online and search for the greatest deals that will absolutely give you your money’s worth.

Now, how does a clock work? Basically, it runs through the use of the principle of oscillation, which is the repetitive movement created by the clock’s oscillator. This is in turn produces the “beat” for the clock, which must be at precise time intervals for the time being displayed on the clock’s face to be correct. Talking about what time it is, you mainly read time on clocks by looking at their clock dials. These dials are used in dial clocks or the more traditional forms of clocks as compared to digital clocks.

A clock dial generally refers to the hour hand attached to the clock, which does a single 360-degree revolution for 24-hour clock dials or 2 complete revolutions in the more common 12-hour clock dial. The first type is mainly used by scientists, pilots, and members of the military. This is preferred by some because of its unambiguous representation of a whole day at a time. Almost all of the clocks with 24-hour clock dials have 24 numbers marked on them. Because of this, these dials no longer need to indicate AM or PM.

Almost all modern clocks have 21-hour dials printed on their faces indicating the hour, and on other models, sixty dots or lines evenly spaced in a ring on the outer portion of the dial. This dots or lines indicate minutes and seconds. Time is read by looking at the placement of the clock’s hands which emanate from the center of the dial. These hands include: a short thick hand or the hour hand, a long thinner hand or the minute hand, and in some models, a very thin hand or the second hand.

Antique clock dials used in antique clocks or grandfather clocks are pretty lovely. Most of them might even have artworks and paintings on them. A lot of these designs can be seen even in a damaged antique clock dial through the use of ultraviolet light. These designs bring out the elegance in antique clocks making them very unique and popular among clock collectors.

Other forms of dials include radium dials, more commonly known as glow-in-the-dark dials. This works through the use of radium.

In this article, we’re going to help you avoid the same experience from ever happening again by discussing clock repairs. In case you get caught up with broken clocks, the person you need to fix this problem would be clockmakers. These persons have enough expertise in doing repairs for clocks as to the reason that they are expert craftsmen who design and built clocks by hand. Among the most experienced ones have the ability to make a missing or broken piece for a clock without access to the original component.

There are a lot of types of clock repair, which depends on the type of clock that needs some fixing up. First would be grandfather clock repair. This involves putting grandfather clocks back in tip top shape, which most of the time have problems with their weights. In here, you need to determine what kind of grandfather clock you have. You need to do this for you to figure out the proper placement of the clock weights. In general, grandfather clocks are classified as modern or antique. The clock weights are used to provide motive power, which is needed to operate the time, chime, and strike trains of this type of clock. In most cases of broken grandfather clocks, the weights are misplaced which in turn adversely affects the clock’s functioning.

Cuckoo clock repair, which is another type, involves restoring cuckoo clocks into optimum function. In doing this type of repair, you need to first to look up and determine if all the components of the cuckoo clock are present. By doing this you can check how many weights the clock has. If the clock only has a cuckoo bird and the time, then it only has two weights. You also need to check the cuckoo and as well as the other parts for damages.

A third would be antique clock repair. Among the most common problems in antique clocks that need some fixing include: the clock not running, the clock runs too fast or slowly, the clock only runs for a few minutes, the clock strikes at the wrong time, the clock does not chime, and the clock pendulum won’t swing.

Of course, there are many more kinds of clocks, and each has it’s own way that it works.  If you have a more unusual type of clock that needs fixing, it might be good to approach a watchmaker rather than try to fix it yourself.  Or, if you’re like me, you’ll just want to do all the research you can, and dive in, figuring out what needs to be done and making it happen.

A clock is a device that is used to tell, keep, and coordinate time. The term “clock” was derived from the Celtic words clagan and clocca, which mean “bell”. On the other hand, for persons who study horology (the study of time) or horologists, a clock is an instrument with a mechanism that sounds or rings a bell in order to announce time intervals. Clocks without such a mechanism are referred to as timepieces. Clocks are also used to measure intervals in terms of other units such as the “day” and “lunar month”. Today, the term clock is used generally to refer to any device that is used for measuring and telling time.

Clocks work through their internal parts which include: the oscillator, which is an object that repeats similar motions over and over again and does this with a precise and constant time interval between each repetition. This repetition is referred to as a “beat”. Attached to the oscillator is the controller device, which maintains the oscillator’s motion by replacing the energy it loses as a result of friction. This also converts the oscillations into a series of pulses. Next would be the counters, wherein the pulses are added up in a chain, to tell time in convenient units specifically seconds, minutes, and hours. The last part would be the indicator, which is used as a display.

The main concept behind the function of the individual parts of a clock is clock movement. This refers to the internal mechanism of a clock or watch, which is in turn enclosed and protected by a case. In general, the clock movements refer to the movements made by the individual parts of a clock.

Clock movements come in a variety depending on the design and the type of a clock. The first among this variety would be quartz clock movement. Quartz clock movements work through the use of an electric oscillator that is in turn regulated by a quartz crystal. This crystal creates very precise frequency that makes quartz clocks more accurate than mechanical clocks. Another would be grandfather clock movement, which is mainly used in grandfather clocks or tall clocks. In here, a pendulum is utilized inside the case as the oscillator. Last would be Hermle clock movements or Hermle units. In here, there is a dash in the movement number and there are no letters in the beginning like “A”.

The different movements vary depending on what type of clock they are used for.  But one thing remains constant.  The movement is the force behind the time; it’s what keeps the clock ticking away.

Among the most common and popular types of clock movements would be quartz clock movement. Quartz clock movements have gained their popularity because of their highly precise time-telling capacity. This is made possible through its use of a quartz crystal that regulates the clock’s electronic oscillator. The electronic oscillator is an electric circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal known as a sine wave or square wave. This repetitive electronic signal produces the clock’s “beat”.

Another would be mini quartz clock movement; these are also precisely built by a number of manufacturers. This type of clock movement is accurate to within 10 seconds per month. This is also the most ideal choice for wood, ceramic, or other types of material that have a minimum depth as a requirement. This type of clock movement is also pretty much energy efficient since most of them have the ability to run over a year with only a single “AA” battery in use. Other types of clock movements include Takane quartz clock movement and Hermle quartz clock movement.

Takane quartz clock movements are center-shaft mounted, that requires a 11/32” shaft hole. Takane clock mechanisms are accurate to +/- 3 minutes a year and this are usually have warranties lasting for 12 months. These come with a gold sweep second hand and an open ring nut; or without a second hand with a closed cap nut.

Hermle clock movements use a 6 or 7 digit code to designate whether it is spring, chain, or cable driven, the plate size, hammer arrangement, and the hand shaft length. An example of such would be: 77, Howard Miller, 1161-853, 94cm. This example shows the movement number 1161-853. This has been made by the company for Howard Miller and its three pendulum components have a total length of 94cm.

The main material responsible for the amazing accuracy of clocks with this type of clock movement is quartz. Quartz is a compound also known as silicon dioxide. If a quartz crystal is precisely cut and mounted, this can be made to vibrate or oscillate using an alternating electrical current. Precision in cutting this material is of prime importance since the frequency at which it vibrates depends on its shape and size as well as the positions where electrodes are placed on it. If precisely done, the crystal can oscillate at a desired frequency. Most common among clocks and watches would be a frequency of 32, 768 Hz.

Among modern quartz clocks nowadays, the quartz crystal resonator takes the shape of a small tuning fork. This is usually laser-trimmed or precision lapped. Another advantage offered by this compound aside from its accuracy is that its shape does not change as temperature increases or decreases.