Grandfather Clock Repair On A Colonial Grandfather Clock

9/14/2017

We were called out to service a Colonial Grandfather Clock made around the 1950's. The main complaint was the weight fell off the chain and the chain run up inside the case and up into the movement. Unfortunately when this happens, the only way of removing the chain is to remove the movement from the case and then you will be able to remove the chain. While we had the movement out, we went ahead and service the Grandfather Clock.

The way this movement came out is a little different than a modern day Grandfather clocks. Once we opened the door, we removed the 4 screws that held a decorative piece of trim that covered up the movement. There were 4 screws (2 in each corner) that held the decorative piece on. After removing the 4 screws we were able to remove the decorative piece.

After removing the decorative piece, we were able to remove 2 nuts that held the movement down onto the seat board. Removing them was simple, however reinstalling them turned out to be quite difficult. Lining up the old screw holes was what took so long.

The red line indicates the bolt that held the movement down onto the seat board. There was a nut on the bottom that was removed in order to remove this tie down. After we removed the tie down bolt from the seat board the movement came out of the case with ease.

Once the movement was removed from the Grandfather case, we had to remove the face from the movement. The 2 red arrows indicate where the face clips are located. This face had 4 clips that needed to be removed. These clips just slide on and off to hold the face down to the clocks movement. By pulling on them we were able to remove them without any problem

The Above Picture shows a close up of the face clips for this clock. Notice the ring on the one side. This ring slides down on the face post. The face post has a grove in it so when you pull the face clip, it will slide up the grove and hold the face in place.

Once the face was off we were able to remove the chain, clean and re-oil the grandfather clocks movement. Everything was reversed and the clock was put back together. Once we adjusted and calibrated the grandfather clock's movement we polished the case and cleaned the glass. The clock was back up and running.

7 Comments

Kate Welling link

11/20/2018 05:01:04 pm

I was surprised to read how much goes into repairing a clock. You said that you re-oiled the clock when you were finished, which seems like it would be beneficial in the long run. I am fixing up my mother's old clock, but since I have no experience with clocks, I think that I am going to bring it to a clock repairer. The experience will be much needed when working with this antique piece.

Bob

11/21/2018 04:23:08 am

There is allot that goes into the servicing of them. If you just want to re-oil the movement, the hardest part is removing the movement. Here is a link to cleaning and oiling the movement once it is removed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ithFb8NH1zw

The video is older and is not the best quality, however it is informative and most of the time it gets the clock up and running again.

Sue

8/11/2019 10:25:58 pm

Hello,
I have a family 1830s Grandfather clock. It has 4 weights, 2 lead? and 2 brass. There are two pulleys. Which weights hang from the pulleys. Where do the other 2 weights hang? I am thinking they should hang on either end on one chain or each weight should hang on it's own chain, making 2 separate chains.
Thank you!
Sue

Ashley link

9/25/2019 07:56:36 am

I liked that you explained that modern grandfather clocks are different from the way that they used to be made. I have been thinking about getting an antique for my home but I am worried that I will end up with a modern version instead. I will be sure to find an antique version of a grandfather clock instead so that I can achieve a old-fashion focal point for my home.

Shaylee Packer link

11/8/2019 05:50:31 am

I didn't realize that so there are so many different pieces when working on a grandfather clock. I can see how reinstalling the pieces would be the hardest part, like you mentioned. Lining up all the tiny holes with all the working parts couldn't be easy.

William Putnam

8/17/2020 01:43:36 pm

I moved my grandmother clock ( removed weights, removed pendulum) then laid clock down in stationwagon to move ~ 20 miles. At new house I reinstalled pendulum then weights (weights same as when removed). Started clock and it works but does not keep good time (gains like crazy) I have timed pendulum and find it cycling at 72 cycles per minute vs. 60 as I think it should . What have I done wrong? Before moving it kept good time, not perfect, but good.

8/17/2020 04:57:58 pm

Sounds like the pendulum leader might have fallen off the suspension spring. Can you take a picture of the back of the movement and were the pendulum attaches to the clock

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