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Old 01-28-2017, 08:33 PM
Captainclock Captainclock is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Elkhart, Indiana
Posts: 1,189
1970's? vintage German Urgos Electromechanical Mantel Clock won't run

Hello everyone, today at work (Goodwill) I bought a ca. 1970s vintage German Urgos Electromechanical Mantel Clock that takes a 1.5 volt "C" Battery to run the clock, and anyways the clock says on the movement (in German and in English, seeing as it was an export piece) that when you install the battery you need to start the clock by turning it about the oscillator axis (which in this case I believe they mean the balance wheel when they say the "oscillator") and when I would do that the clock will run for a few seconds and then it will quit, so I don't know what the deal is with it, and knowing that basically all the clock is is just a bunch of plastic and metal gears driven by a balance wheel (the "mechanical" part of the electromechanical movement) and the balance wheel is driven by a small electrical circuit that powers a small horseshoe type magnet that in turn drives the balance wheel (the "electro" part of the electromechanical movement), and anyways its acting like its either not getting enough juice to keep the balance wheel oscillating or the balance wheel is wonky (its out of alignment) and either way it seems I may need to take the movement apart to diagnose the issue but I already had to take the clock apart today to repair the dial because the original glue they used to attach the dial to the brass backing material had dried out and failed and was crumbling all over the place so I had to clean out the old glue and reglue the dial back onto the backing material using Elmer's Multi-Purpose Glue.
Anyways I would love to get this clock up and running again as its kind of an unusual piece and also its kind of a piece of history seeing as this clock was made when there was still an East and West Germany (although the clock itself just says "Made in Germany" it is assumed that it was made in West Germany like it was with the old German radios like the old Grundigs and Sabas And Telefunkens were.)

Anyways would like to know if anyone has any experience with these old German clocks or more specifically these old German electromechanical movements.

Thanks,

Levi

P.S. Pictures are posted below of the aforementioned clock and also this clock is made of solid brass.

Edit: I said this clock was from the 1970s, well I was mistaken its actually from 1960, and to be exact its from March 2, 1960 according to a stamp that was stanped onto the front of the movement. I have a picture of the inside of the movement, and to be honest its probably one of the simplest looking electromechanical movement designs I've seen so far, as the only electronic component inside this movement (besides the electromagnet that controls the balance wheel) is a small diode, which when I tested it with the diode test it tested bad because it was allowing current to flow both ways instead of just one way, which I'm not sure if that's why the movement isn't working or not but I'm probably guessing it is seeing as there isn't anything else in this movement that could of failed to cause the mechanism to not function, and considering that the battery terminals in this clock mechanism are absolutely corrosion free it only makes me suspect the diode even more as being the culprit.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSCN2899.jpg (61.7 KB, 52 views)

Last edited by Captainclock; 01-28-2017 at 09:33 PM. Reason: forgot to add pictures.
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