Posted 3 years ago
Gage_rober…
(68 items)
This was a project I completed a couple months ago, it is a 1907 Gilbert Black mantle clock. I was able to determine the date because it was engraved on the backside of the movement. I bought it at an antique store in Canton, Connecticut for $35. It was not working when I got it, it was missing the key, the pendulum, and the suspension spring. Now it runs and keeps time perfectly. Does anyone have a Gilbert catalogue and know the model name of this clock? I want to know so I can add it to my book of clock restos so I can remember which clock it was when/if I decide to sell it. I can say that this was probably the most difficult and in depth restoration that I have ever done with a clock, I had to rebuild the corner of the top of the case with bondo, and the rest of the edges on the top of the case, I had to repaint all the gold trim by hand, I had to repaint the marbelized trim, I had to reshape some of the pillars on either side of the clock, I had to re - gild all of the engravings around the case, on the dial mount section and the bottom part of the case, and I also had to dissasemble, clean and oil the movement by hand. The dial I actually ended up sending to a guy in LA who was able to restore it for me. I would actually like to do these dial restoration myself now, as it was not cheap to have it done, and I would like to learn the technique. I can figure out pretty much everything except how to restore the paper dial itself. I want to keep the dials original on these clocks, but I would need to find a repacement because the one I have is in very bad shape ( seperate clock). How do I find original replacment paper dials for these clocks? anyways, thanks for looking.
- Gage
Another interesting I would like to comment on, when I got the clock before I had to repant the top, there was a very interesting caption hand painted on the top which read, "Backward turn backward, o time in your flight" and the bottom of the clock said "MMM" in cursive.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52071/rock-me-to-sleep
@dav2no1 thanks!
You did a nice job Gage. Check out Timesavers.com for reproduction dials. You may need to scan a dial and resize it using a photo editing app/program. If you need to resize, I think that it's better to reduce rather than enlarge. Reduction should give you better resolution.