Restoring a 100 year-old clock

I was at my parent’s house on New Years Day with Jen and my daughter, Evy. I walked into my Dad’s workshop (he’s a 3rd generation watchmaker by trade), where he showed me this 100 year-old clock he was restoring for Odyssey Time’s president (they are Seiko Canada’s distributor, along with other watches like Nike, etc.). My dad is the oldest horologist in shop, so he gets these special projects from time to time.

(I took this shot on my camera phone, sorry for the blurriness).

It’s fascinating to see the engineering technology available. Kept pretty accurate time (based on my testing). My dad made a really interesting comment, which I’ll condense to the following statement:

“My tools here are too modern and new—if I was at the shop in Malaysia, I’d have older tools more appropriate with working with a clock of this age.”

Crazy.

The clock has an hourly chime. You can see the hammer just left of the pendulum.

In this shot, you can see the escapement wheel (top gear) and the parrot that regulates it’s rotation.

My Dad said that this clock is supposedly a Seiko clock, but there is no proof. The Dial is badly corroded and there are no markings on the clock that denotes its manufacturer.

When I see my parents this weekend, I will bring my SLR and take some better pictures.