The alarm

The Comtoise / Morbier alarm.

The alarm on these clocks is a simple affair and easy to retro fit which is a bonus as many over the years have had parts go astray often leaving clocks with just a few parts of the system that no longer work.
Be aware if looking for parts of the height of your clock as the two most common case sizes are 25.5 cm and 31.5 cm.

The alarm works by turning a round brass disc that sits behind the hour hand. Typically the hour hand is of a pattern that has a hole that allows you to view through and line it up with and engraved number (1 to 12) set as a clock face on the disc. When you choose your number and line it up behind the hour hand this is your alarm time. Be aware though that like the hands of a Comtoise clock you must only turn this disc clockwise, to do other can result in damage. It only works if turned clockwise.
More accurate alarm setting is down to guesswork between the hours. Even set at your preferred time the alarm may well go off any time 15 to 20 minutes either side! These are old clocks and tolerances are not at modern levels. I suspect also that in the early 19th century an alarm roughly at 10 to remind you of a visit was good enough.
Another aspect to the accuracy is that once set these alarms rely on friction between the disc and hour hand and should the two slip a little between when set and when activated accuracy further suffers.
This friction then holds the disc in place behind the hour hand, the two then travel round the dial together until the hour hand reaches the set time and the alarm goes off.

However, do not be disheartened with a little patience and observation of when your own clock 'goes off' and very minor adjustments you can, (at least i have!) manage to get the accuracy into a ten minute window.

The photo shows the alarm disc set for 11 oclock.





More to follow......

'Manthey' twisted frame.

Another to sort out.  A clock with a sad look to it. The hands are mismatched and the case has been dropped at some point on the front right corner locking up the movement. This has resulted in a few parts being slightly bent out of true. So along with that the dial also needs a little attention.

'Lavaur' Finished

well, no real dramas here with this one. All finished and placed in a long caseas it was prettier than what sat in there.
I have an alarm system on the way with a couple of weights to fit so that will be the next installment on this clock.

'Lavaur'. Repair to Verge link.

The movement has all been stripped down and treated as the 'Marciac', namely cleaned with fine emery paper and steel wool. I have not detailed this as it is a simple process, just time consuming. With this in mind the next clock I do I will steep the steel in vinegar overnight and treat the brass to an ammonia / water mix and see how that does.

While stripping this one though I found that the dogs bone verge / pendulum hanger link was made of steel. As such this was cutting through the point where it contacted the verge link. I presume this piece was a previous replacement.
So solve the issue I cut a new dogs bone link out of some scrap brass and replaced it. The piece I used had some test engraving on the reverse so I fitted this facing out as I like the look.

'Lavaur'. Repoussé.

Now the front parts are separated i got on with cleaning the repoussé.
First off i shaped the end of a wooden stick so i could push out the dents in the pattern, that and hand pressure and patience got it as close to new again.

Placed in the cat litter tray and with a toothbrush i liberally applied a baking soda and vinegar mix and let it sit for the afternoon. All the bits of old green polish lifted out of the valleys in the mold and it cleaned up a treat. I just washed it off with tap water and buffed with a cloth.
The back plate i lightly sanded and painted with a thinned mix of hammerite to keep the character and the dial just needed a light wash in soapy water as it was not stained.

'Lavaur'. Dial parts.

Splitting the three parts of the dial is not hard. I filed the screws off that hold the repoussé to the back plate and gently peeled back the brass that wraps round the plate enabling the two pieces to be separated.
The dial itself was just held to the back plate with one screw and this also had to be filed off.
The dial is near pristine apart from at the screw point where the enamel has come off but as this sits under the repoussé when fitted it is not an issue.
Initially i assumed these repoussé fronts were riveted on with tiny brass rivets but it appears the screws just get polished flat over time.

'Lavaur'

Following on from my successful first blog on a comtoise clock 'Marciac' i find myself on possession of another.
This one is basically the same time/chime setup and all parts look the same so i forsee no issues renovating it.
I will need to source a key and balancier though as these are missing, but all works and it came with a nice simple full size long case.
The dial is nice and unblemished showing the clock being sold from a dealer (?) Paul Ancely of Lavaur in the Tarn.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. Wall Bracket.

The clock is now to be tested properly so i needed a wall bracket. Rooting round i found some old oak and built a simple bracket that is in keeping with the clocks age.
I have also now sourced a pendulum and key.
The pendulum i believe is from a later clock. Mine has a string suspension and i believe these generally had a simple bob on a tri fold bracket. ( i presume the later ones are too heavy with the risk of the string breaking).
The pendulum though is clearly of the right size as i am getting the clock more accurate by the hour. I let it run for an hour and then adjust the nut on the bottom. I started at 9am and have gone from 10 minutes fast to within the minute.  I will adjust now after longer period to see how it goes.

When all is adjusted and we are running well i will re-attach the clock face .

I have also attached a pull to the chime mechanism. It was there so i felt compelled. I just need to find a pull toggle more in keeping, or stain this one darker.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. Face and repoussé.

A little time has now been spent on the face and repoussé.
I have been swaying between disassembling the three pieces that form the front of the clock, the face / repoussé / case front. As they all require differing attention.
In the end i decided to just take my time and keep all attached. They are riveted together with small brass pins and i like the idea of keeping this fixing original. The only downside i can see is that i will not be able to clean and repaint the reverse side of the case front. As there is only surface rust evident though and the clock will live in a relatively dry atmosphere i see no real need to split the bits.

The repoussé needed gentle hand bending to return to shape and then face down on a leather sandbag such as engravers use. I gently pushed the dented areas back into place with a few differing wooden sticks. No damage caused and suprisingly easy.

I washed the whole item in warm soapy water and then spent a bit of time on the dial face with window cleaner as a fair bit of the dirt on it was 'set' in place. Patience and gentle perseverance cleaned this up a treat though.
Second stage was to address the century plus accumulation of grease grime soot and staining on the repoussé. I only have household products available and did not fancy playing with ammonia here so out came the tomato ketchup and a total covering was applied to the brass and the whole thing was left overnight.
This was then agitated and scrubbed with a toothbrush and washed off. The front was then left by the log burner for a couple of days to ensure there was no moisture trapped beneath the steel plate.
Out then came the household brass cleaner, in the UK i would have used 'Brasso', here in France it is 'Miror'. This was applied with a vigourous toothbrush and left to dry. I then spent my time brushing it off with toothbrush and flannels and then polished with clean cloths. Where the green dry bits were in the low valleys i routed it out with toothpicks.
All in all i am bery happy. I did not want an as new look as that seems pointless on a clock this age. I did however want it to look good.
I painted the backplate as i did the other case parts.

Morbier Clock. 'Marciac'. Chime lever.

One thing i did notice while stripping and cleaning was a little lever with a hole in it for a pull cord and a corresponding hole directly below it in the frame.
I have read that this is to enable the owner, in the dead of night, to check the time. Pull the lever and the last hour chimed is repeated. Fantastic. I have visions of a series of pulleys and a long cord from the clock leading to the bedchamber!
I suspect that a high proportion of these clocks though were never cased and just sat on a suitable bracket on tne wall so a simple toggle under the clock would suffice.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. Cleaned up.

Well, the clock has been stripped down to each part. All cleaned up and put back together.
It was impossible to tell the difference between parts that were brass or steel it was so filthy. It is possible the clock was in a kitchen by the grease i had to clean off.
I took photo's of each individual piece coming off so refitting was simply a matter of following tne photos back. Normally i get lazy and forget to do this but am glad i kept woth it this time.

I have jury rigged a test stand with the kitchen chairs and by using the pendulum from my other clock have checked the movement. 'Morbier Clocks', by Lawrence A Seymour , came in handy here or I would have been floundering about for a while! 

So it is ticking and chiming and telling time. Now to find some oil.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. Cage.

Now all the bits are removed i can re-paint the cage and pendulum hanger (?). An easy job, a quick brush with a wire brush and sand paper and then once more on with a thinned down coat of hammerite. I prefer this as the character of the old piece shows through but is uniformly coated and protected. I have left the brass uncoated and the bushing in the central support still has tape over it that i will pull off when all is dry. The bushing itself i have just run through with a pice of string to clean.

Next job, this box of bits, funny how easy it is to take things apart!

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. Weights.

Hello, weights quickly addressed today.

Wire brush taken to both of them and then a quick coat of Hammerite. New hooks attached to the top of each for the rope.
One thing i noted was what appears to be the Roman numeral VIIII on the top on one of the weights. (My picture is not very good but it is clear on the weight). I presume this relates to lb and not kilos as the weight is not that heavy.
This helps date the clock, as best one can! To pre-1840 as that was when France re-introduced the metric system. So VIIII French pounds comes to 3.6 to 4.4 kilos depending on where they were cast in the country at the time!  I do not have a scale accurate enough to weigh them at this time.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. Case panels.

These are in very good condition so not too much work.
One of the retaining screw holes in the back panel was enlarged as if some one had pulled the panel off the frame without taking out the screw first. Luckily all the metal was still there so a quick bash round the hole with a panel hammer sorted it and the hole is neat again.

I left the paint on these and just gave them a vigourous scrub with a wire brush to remove all the surface rust. I did not want to take the old look and aging away but in order to offer a little protection painted a very thin coat of smooth hammerite. I did this by using a brush to apply an area of 2" x4" or so of paint and i then immediately wiped this round the whole panel with a rag that i had thinners on. The texture and look of the original case is then retained.

Part of my reason here was to avoid painting over a clock makers mark on the inside of the back panel from 1906, i have yet to work out was the rest says. I think it is January and the clockmakers name. judging buy the dirt ingrained in this that was the first and last time it was serviced.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'. 2.

I had a little time today so removed the hands and face complete with repoussé.

All came away easily enough starting with the small nut over the washer that holds the minute hand. This reveals a square washer that requires rotating a quarter turn which enables the hour hand to be removed.
Two screws are then removed that hold the repoussé and clock face to the frame enabling this peice to be removed. These are located just off the ten and two positions in the repoussé.

I contemplated removing the face from the repoussé but the left and right sides of this brass panel wrap around the steel square (this square forms the front of the box that the movement sits in) that the face is attached to, the repoussé is pinned to the square with brass pins that would require filing down and removing. Wanting to keep the clock as original as possible this seemed a stage to far at this time.

Morbier Clock, 'Marciac'.

After a fortunate find recently on a long cased Comtoise clock i got all interested in them and found myself buying 'Morbier Clocks' by Lawrence A Seymour. Well worth it.

Well, i read it yesterday and today found myself at a local brocante looking at the usual stalls of random old stuff that generally falls into the crap/treasure category!

However, i did find myself staring at a Morbier clock sat on the ground with two rusty weights and a lot of cobwebs. A short discussion later about its lack of merits with the stall holder, namely the lack of pendulum and mouse detrius within the movement and i found myself walking away with a project for next to nothing.

Once home is where the truth is generally revealed, and i find myself very happy. A strip down and cleaning project is in the offing but all parts move as they should and all appears, to my totally inexpert eye, to be there. At the very least i have an education ahead.

One thing i particularly like is that the dial is marked 'Marciac', a local town to me, so the clock has extra meaning.