How much for a clock clean and service ?

itch_for_a_glitch

I need a clock cleaning and servicing (I think) does anyone have an idea of what I'm likely to be charged please ?
Its a L'Epee carriage clock and has run perfectly (with minor adjustments) for a quarter of a century, but is now losing time.

leveller2911

I had an early 19th Century longcase clock clean and overhauled about 5 years ago and it was £500 .... That was for the moveent only and not the case....

Fag packet guesstimate is between £100 and £300

itch_for_a_glitch

leveller2911 wrote: »

I had an early 19th Century longcase clock clean and overhauled about 5 years ago and it was £500 .... That was for the moveent only and not the case....

Fag packet guesstimate is between £100 and £300

On that basis I'll get a battery operated one !

anotherbaldrick

I had an 1830 bracket clock restored and cleaned, that is a proper restoration , not just a fudge up to get it running and it cost £600
The clock is now accurate to 1min a week.

leveller2911

itch_for_a_glitch wrote: »

On that basis I'll get a battery operated one !

I know with longcase clock movements they have to take them completely apart ,clean and re assemble.........

You can get a lot of batteries for £500-00 ..

Bit of a spooky story, but true,After I had mine cleaned it kept very accurate time until one night at 1am it chimed the hour and wouldn't stop so I had to stop the pendullum etc...Later that day I had a phone call telling me the old chap that gave me the clock had died the night before ..........At 1 am..:eek:

100% True.......

anotherbaldrick

leveller2911 wrote: »

I know with longcase clock movements they have to take them completely apart ,clean and re assemble.........

You can get a lot of batteries for £500-00 ..

Bit of a spooky story, but true,After I had mine cleaned it kept very accurate time until one night at 1am it chimed the hour and wouldn't stop so I had to stop the pendullum etc...Later that day I had a phone call telling me the old chap that gave me the clock had died the night before ..........At 1 am..:eek:

100% True.......

More than clean and reassemble, often in old clocks the bearings, which are holes drilled in the brass face plates for the ends of the steel wheels and gears to run in will have worn oval shape so that they no longer fit or run true. A decent restoration will entail drilling these out and fitting bushes , something only a serious clock restorer will undertake.

Biggles

itch_for_a_glitch wrote: »

Its a L'Epee carriage clock and has run perfectly (with minor adjustments) for a quarter of a century, but is now losing time.

It might just need regulating. There will be a little lever on the balance wheel.

Clockwork clocks tend to lose a little time in hot weather anyway, due to expansion.

Biggles

leveller2911 wrote: »

very accurate time until one night at 1am it chimed the hour and wouldn't stop so I had to stop the pendullum etc

Cute story, but stopping the pendulum would have no effect on the striking mechanism.....

itch_for_a_glitch

Biggles wrote: »

It might just need regulating. There will be a little lever on the balance wheel.

Clockwork clocks tend to lose a little time in hot weather anyway, due to expansion.

Thanks,
Yes the clock had been "regulated" to the full extent.
I've actually returned the regulator to neutral and I am slowly advacing it to see if that helps (huh!) fingers crossed.
I've never noticed a hot weather effect before but its possible I suppose.

I_have_spoken

I paid £250 to have the clockwork part of my barograph serviced.

Have you tried a squirt of WD40? :eek:

itch_for_a_glitch

I_have_spoken wrote: »

I paid £250 to have the clockwork part of my barograph serviced.

Have you tried a squirt of WD40? :eek:

Trouble is I wouldnt know where to squirt !
It cost (at the time) a lot of money so I dont want to knacker it up.