So Many Clocks, So Little Time



General Clock Maintenance and Keeping Your Clock Running Smoothly



General maintenance and care for your clock



Just as your vehicle or home requires regular care, so do mechanical clocks. It is widely recommended that your mechanical clock have a drop of fresh oil placed in pivot wells/bushings every 2-3 years. This will reduce friction and wear from the constant turning of metal on metal. ONLY use a high grade clock oil when oiling your clock and ONLY on pivots and pallets NEVER on gears, teeth or pinions.

Never use other types of oils or lubricants on your clock, especially WD-40. WD-40 and other lubricants can work in the very short term, but quickly turn into a sticky mess pulling in and holding dust and other airborne particles.

Wooden Works clocks only require oiling on the pallets, never in the wooden bushing. Graphite and other lubricants should never be used as it makes the cleaning process much more difficult and much more expensive.
As a majority of homes today have forced air heat, dust particles and other airborne particles such as pet dander can squeeze into otherwise closed clock cases on a routine basis. With regular oiling of your clocks movement every 2-3 years, an inspection can be performed to determine the next required "cleaning" or "overhaul". A Cleaning, or Overhaul, are generally suggested every 8-10 years but with routine oiling and inspections may be prolonged slightly to 12 years in homes without pets or forced air heat. Over time, your clocks movement will attract dust particles from the air (much shorter time with WD-40) and as such, old oil turns into a 'paste'. This dust laden 'paste' will turn into an abrasive causing more than normal damage to bushings and pivots if the clock is run for very long periods of time without proper care and cleaning.
For information on pricing for the maintenance outlined above, visit our "Partial Pricing" page.


Keeping your clock in beat



Many customers call to inquire about why their clock will not stay running. There are several factors involved that would dictate why a clock will not stay running. First question is, "When was the last time the clock was serviced?" If it has never been serviced or if its been at least 10 years since its last service, refer to the general maintenance and care section above.
If your clock has been serviced within the past few years but does not stay running very long there are several things you can try on your own. Here are several tips to keeping your heirloom running smoothly if it has been serviced recently
*Never move your clock without removing the pendulum (and weights if it is a weight driven clock) as this could cause damage to the suspension spring, or knock the pallets out of whack.
*You should listen to the 'beat' of the clock for an even tick tock. Placing a level on the clock or shelf is a great way to determine if the clock itself is level, but if the beat is off, the clock will not stay running very long. If the clocks beat sounds more like "tick..........tock..tick.........tock..tick........tock" that is out of beat. The clocks beat should have a nice even tick tock such as this "tick....tock....tick....tock....tick...tock". If the beat is off, an adjustment needs to be made but that is why it won't stay running very lock. If your beat is off, try tilting your clocks case up on one end until the tick tock becomes more even. If it gets worse, try lifting the other side, if you hear the beat even out, then an adjustment is needed for the clock to run efficiently when level. If you have a wall clock try swinging the bottom of the case in one direction or the other until the beat is even instead of using a level.

*Keep your clock in an area that is free from high traffic and vibrations such as near doors. Some clocks are much more resilient and can run in these areas, some clocks such as Vienna Regulators where the Pendulum moves very slow and very little are less tolerant to vibrations.

*Have you fully wound the clock? This is, believe it or not, a fairly common problem as folks are tentative to fully wind the clock for fear of "overwinding" the clock. Weight driven clocks can be overwound in rare circumstances when the weight hook gets stuck, but generally there is no such thing as "overwound".

There are too many reasons that a clock may not run long to list them here. These are suggestions to very common issues that you can try before calling for a repair.




585.905.0102 | Canandaigua, NY 14424



So Many Clocks, So Little Time