The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I saw this clock in a junk store and just couldn't leave it there. I paid too much for it and I know it, but the case is gorgeous. It is an old Seth Thomas, made in Connecticut. After about 8 hours of tinkering, I finally got it running. If it makes it for 24 or 48 hours I will put it back together. I am having a hard time nailing down the age, but it is probably between the 1880s and 1909. The weight drive is more quirky than the other clocks I have been playing with.

Haunted clock, cool, not many people have the intestinal fortitude to bring such items home, given what could happen and all. I am sure you will be fine, the clock will be fixed ( or else) and it will look great on the wall.

The Man who owns this big ol clock
Will someday be stiff as a rock
If he repair this clock of here,
In time he go without no fear.

But if he fail to fix this thing,
He groweth older by the spring
And too the time will pull him down
The clock will alway be around.

I really need to get my grandmothers Seth Thomas clock serviced and running. It’s been in the family since 1849.

steelbuttplate wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:44 pm The Man who owns this big ol clock
Will someday be stiff as a rock
If he repair this clock of here,
In time he go without no fear.

But if he fail to fix this thing,
He groweth older by the spring
And too the time will pull him down
The clock will alway be around.

But no damn pressure. Sheessch, thanks for the happy thoughts.....

awalker1829 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:29 pm I really need to get my grandmothers Seth Thomas clock serviced and running. It’s been in the family since 1849.

I would be guessing that it has a wooden movement? I would get it fixed regardless of the cost. I would be good karma.

Brass movement with lead weights. Easiest way to confirm date period of manufacturing is to look at the paper that was pasted in the back of the case. The address appearing on the label will tell you roughly when the clock was made. The address on this clock’s label matches up with date the clock came into the family-manufactured sometime in 1848 or early 1849.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:26 am

awalker1829 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:29 pm I really need to get my grandmothers Seth Thomas clock serviced and running. It’s been in the family since 1849.

I would be guessing that it has a wooden movement? I would get it fixed regardless of the cost. I would be good karma.

I think our Courthouse Clock might be a wooden movement.; Somebody gets it working now and then. That might be a full time job for somebody, go to little towns and fix the old town clock.

I am going to quit having coitus with clocks. It is too much work and too little satisfaction. I finally got this one tooling along keeping time, but I have twelve hours and a lot of stress in the thing. It is one of those things where you can get close as hell, but still no cigar. If I had gone to clock school, it would probably have been a hour job. Oh well, back to the next bedroom rehabilitation coming next week.

I am loving retirement

12 hours? The average Victrola takes me 20-30 hours to bring back. Cleaning is what takes the time, cleaning while leaving a good original finish intact . Rebuilding reproducers is two hours or more by itself. I do it because sometimes I get paid real money for these machines, plus it's fun.

Well, I found out that I did not overpay for the clock. I paid a hundred and a quarter. After beating the web bushes for a couple of hours, I finally got a hit on the clock. It is a Garfield model, made around 1887 and they are selling at auction for between $1,000 and $1500 bucks! Even a blind hog finds an acorn ever now and again.....;)

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 4:09 pm Well, I found out that I did not overpay for the clock. I paid a hundred and a quarter. After beating the web bushes for a couple of hours, I finally got a hit on the clock. It is a Garfield model, made around 1887 and they are selling at auction for between $1,000 and $1500 bucks! Even a blind hog finds an acorn ever now and again.....;)

$1000-$1500 Would be a very sweet old S&W In great shape. Then you can say I got this sweet revolver for $125.
12 hours well spent.

I don't know Steve,

I do things like that all the time. I just like doing something different. Especially antiques.

Darryl

The first few years you buy blind, sometimes get a lucky strike. 40 years later you have some knowledge and know better what you are doing. I can walk a flea market and spot good shit I know I can make money off of from 30 feet away. I know what it's likely asking price should be, and what I have to put into it, and what I can make on eBay with it. Doesn't matter if it's Griswold cast iron pots or antique spark plugs, or the bucket of antique electrical fixtures that cost me five bucks but has now made me over one hundred with more yet to sell. you can't know everything, and sometimes you have to go by your gut feeling, after awhile it's more like an educated gut feeling.

I won't realize anything out of the clock. I am remodeling a bedroom for my wife to have a hobby space. It will hang in that room. It is a way to have a nice antique that I wouldn't have been willing to pay for. My son will probably end up with this house and its contents, he can make a buck off of it later.

I get a big kick out of making old things work again. It is nothing more than an obsession or what some people call a hobby.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:03 pm I won't realize anything out of the clock. I am remodeling a bedroom for my wife to have a hobby space. It will hang in that room. It is a way to have a nice antique that I wouldn't have been willing to pay for. My son will probably end up with this house and its contents, he can make a buck off of it later.

I get a big kick out of making old things work again. It is nothing more than an obsession or what some people call a hobby.

Buy a Victrola, or talking machine, so far I have made $3400 selling such machines that I have repaired that a friend of mine has found in Florida flea markets. This is just these Florida machines he finds, you are missing opportunities. I can suggest it now because he has six or seven more he's bringing up in December, enough to keep me busy for a year. One of them is another rare outside horn machine, these are pretty much all big money so long as they are of the period and not cheap modern repops.

Jim, I see them frequently, and every time I think about you, but I know nothing about them, or their values. That is a good way to get stung.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:03 pm

I get a big kick out of making old things work again. It is nothing more than an obsession or what some people call a hobby.

Stay away from me then, I love retirement.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:42 pm Jim, I see them frequently, and every time I think about you, but I know nothing about them, or their values. That is a good way to get stung.

If you find a small tabletop Victrola ( Victrola means it has internal horn, and is a Victor company product) intact, good wood, needs work for under a hundred bucks then you will be OK. That's what most Victrola VV-IV, and VI's go for, your basic entry level Victrolas. FLoor models in similar condition can run around a hundred bucks for the basic models because they are difficult to unload. Portables will start around $150 and go up sharply depending on model and condition. Off brands, these are anything not marked Victor, Edison, Brunswick, Columbia, will be cheaper, but are harder to find parts for, and can depend heavily on potmetal parts. Look for a Victrola the 4th ( VV-IV) 1911-1924, start with that one, easiest to learn on, least expensive, parts are available, doesn't take up much room.