The mail carrier just brought me a Seth Thomas Ship’s ‘Corsair’ E537-000 Bell Clock like this one, only without the 24-hour markings. The seller indicated that the bells are four minutes slow. It looks like they’re actually 34 minutes slow, as it’s 2:04 here and it just rang three times. ding-ding ding That’s 1:30. There’s a elderly Vietnamese guy with a jewelry/watch/clock shop nearby who has worked on a couple of my watches. He’s fast, and very reasonably priced. I’ll have to take the clock to him to see what he can do with it.
I’ve been wanting one of these clocks for two or three decades, but they were too expensive then (like three or four hundred dollars). My company president has a Chelsea clock in his office, and he recently turned the bell on. We were talking about it, and he looked to see how much they cost. He was finding prices of $1,500 to $3,000 or so. (I think he said he paid $300 for his, two or three decades ago.) I picked this one up for $130, which seems to be a common price for a Seth Thomas.
Anyway, I have my nautical clock now. It’s up on the wall under a nice barometer I bought for my dad back in the '90s. This old house doesn’t have a doorbell, electric or manual, so I put up a ship’s bell as the doorbell. In over a decade, I think people have only used it two or three times.
Is the chime always the same amount of time off? It sounds crazy, but a common fix for “rack and snail” clocks is pulling the hands off and putting them back on to match the chime mechanism. But first, the clock is probably overdue for a cleaning.
Yes, the bell is a consistent amount of time off. I thought about pulling the hands off, but only for an instant. I’m sure the clock is due for cleaning and servicing. Better to let a professional do it. And I’ve noticed that sometimes the expected ‘ding-ding’ is just a ‘ding’. So there’s that.
So the bells were 34 minutes off. I took the clock to a jeweller, who kept it for a week and a half. When I got it back, it looked beautiful and the bells were spot-on. I hung the clock on the wall and enjoyed the bells for a few hours on Friday. Then it was time to turn them off, as Mrs. L.A. would be home soon and they’re too loud for her. I turned the switch to ‘silent’. And when the half-hour came, they were not silent. When the hour came, they were not silent. I took the clock down and buried it under some laundry, and returned to the jeweller Saturday.
I went to pick the clock up a bit over half an hour ago. On the way home, at 12:30, it chimed 8 bells. :smack: I made a U-turn and went back to the shop. There’s a bit of a language barrier, but the jeweller said I could either have the bells right, or I could be able to turn them off. :dubious: I told him I want the bells right and I want to be able to silence them. After all, that’s what the clock was built to do. So he’s keeping it for a couple/few more days.
The jeweller is a nice old guy. But if he doesn’t fix it right this time, I’m going to have to find someone else to adjust my clock. I’ll look locally, but it may be more convenient to ship it off somewhere (that’s not too expensive).
The bells can now be turned on and off. Eight bells are chimed on the hour or half-hour after they are turned on, and then the correct number of bells sound thereafter.
Mrs. L.A. said she’s glad she didn’t join the Navy. She says the bell system sounds confusing.
All was in order. Now it’s wonky again. A couple of hours after I posted, the clock chimed even though the switch was turned off. I have it turned on now, and I’ll try turning it off again later.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to take it/send it off to someone where language isn’t a barrier.
Just be careful if they offer to clean your clock…& run if they make a fist. :o
I thought for sure the update was going to be that it worked fine until you changed it for DST.
It’s a lovely clock with a classic look. I hope you get it working to your satisfaction.
The main reason I’m posting though, is that seeing the thread title left me with, “New clock. When dis?” stuck in my head, and I had to put it somewhere.
I have 
