A clock restoration, and a new (old) electric range.

[crevicetool]

So, I'm in St. Louis two or three years ago at a vacuum cleaner mini-meet, when I get a phone call from Hans (norgeway here on AW). He said he found a clock for me that I had been looking for, or had missed out on on auction sites and asked for my approval to buy it for me. Yes, I said, and here it is all restored. Thought you might enjoy seeing the restoration. Here's the back of it. The original wrinkle finish had all but chipped off.

 

[crevicetool]

No doubt it had slipped off it's hanger a few times...

 

[crevicetool]

The composite material had seen better days, so these areas were treated with PC-7 epoxy.

 

[crevicetool]

Carefully worked off the rest of the old paint.

 

[crevicetool]

And repaired the hanger. I reinforced it with aluminum and PC-7.

 

[crevicetool]

Here's the clock works and lights. Cleaned these up and did what little repair was required.

 

[crevicetool]

These are the hands of the clock. The second hand is not original, but was necessary....you'll see why later on. The minute and hour hands got cleaned up and polished.

 

[crevicetool]

I sprayed the interior with a high gloss white paint in hopes of having as much light reflection as possible.

 

[crevicetool]

The outside was re-wrinkled. I could have painted over the black with a dark brown, but decided to leave it black.

 

[crevicetool]

This is where the hanger was repaired. You can see the wrinkle paint was able to move a lot more than on the "cardboard" and it is slightly more "wrinkled".

 

[crevicetool]

Now, I have added these Distance Restoration Spacers (wood sticks) to the back of the case. They then press on the back of the face glass. The cardboard had become out of shape for what ever reason (had become concave)and in doing so, the hands rubbed the clock "crystal". It also made the hands rub each other, so this was my remedy.

 

[crevicetool]

Now re-fitted with the works and new lights. I went with the curly bulbs (even though I'm not fond of them) so they would cast a "white" light, and work cooler than incandesant bulbs.

 

[crevicetool]

See?

 

[crevicetool]

Here's the completed case of the clock ready for the stainless steel ring and the front glass. Can you see how the back of the clock is now flat as opposed to the way it looked without the sticks?

 

[crevicetool]

And here it is finished and running. Universal. Hard to believe right? I made a new second hand out of Lexan to match what I had seen many times on auctions that I was out-bid on......grrrrr.

 

[crevicetool]

Here's one of them. I saved this picture in the event I was to ever get one of these clocks....

 

[crevicetool]

Here's mine again in my office right next to my Electrolux vacuums. (I will have to either move the clock or the vacuums). I DO have Universal stuff the clock will be more comfortable with. The home-made second hand looks red in this view. It looked black in the night-time picture.

 

[crevicetool]

Maybe I'll hang it above my new (to me) Universal electric range. When that's finished....ain't started that yet.

 

[ovrphil]

Nice job! Is that your clock in reply #15 ? I ask only because in reply #14, I don't see a stainless(or aluminum) round frame.

These are interesting clocks to own - since I frequented so many auto and small shop businesses in my hometown area, there were many of these types everywhere. They are great reminders of another time, in their own time.

 

[crevicetool]

No Universal appliances or clocks were harmed in the making of this photoplay.

Rick

 

[crevicetool]

Thanks Phil. No the clock in #15 is a picture of one I copied from an auction site for reference. The stainless steel ring on mine shows up in the office picture.

 

[rp2813]

Beautiful job!  I didn't know it was possible to remove paint from fiber board.  That replicated second hand looks like the real deal.

 

[ovrphil]

"No Universal appliances or clocks were harmed in the making of this photoplay. "
Thanks for mentioning - clock cruelty has become ...rampant.

(Sorry, you were still posting photos when I asked about the frame

 

[kb0nes]

Rick,

That is a fabulous restoration, thanks for taking the time to share the equally excellent step-by-step photos of the process!

How many watts were the original incandescent bulbs? You are smart to replace them, the heat doesn't do any of the clock any good. You should be to find some 3-5 watt LED lamps that are 2700-3000K color temp. They would have the vintage look without the heat.

 

[gansky1]

Amazing work, Rick, that's a very cool clock.  The Lexan hands are in great shape.

 

Brilliant idea with the spacers!

 

 

Do you know what year your range is?  

 

[rp2813]

Bulbs

I'll hazard a guess that the original bulbs were 11 watts.  I bought a frosted 11 watt incandescent recently and the card it came on indicated that it was for use in signs.  The 11 watt bulbs have no neck, reminiscent of old-school incandescents, perhaps for use in applications where clearance is limited.

 

[supersuds]

Gorgeous clock and a beautiful restoration. Congrats!

Did you do anything to the clock motor? I have a few smaller Telechrons that haven't needed overhaul yet but they can't be expected to run forever without attention, presumably.

 

[tolivac]

VERY NICE!!!

 

[alr2903]

Very Nice.....

That is a fine job on a very tedious project. Do you think the heat of the original bulbs caused some of the problems to begin with? Very nice restoration. One of my great aunts had a universal gas dryer. I think it was sourced from Apex. It is very cool that Universal had white goods to small electrics. alr

 

[crevicetool]

The bulbs that were in the clock are marked 7.5 watts. The reason I went with the cfl's is the whiteness (the clock face has some discoloration that shows under regular light), and the heat factor.

Do I know the age of the range?

I can only guess on that. I have two owners manuals. One was printed in 1936, the other, 1940. The 1940 edition most closely matches my range but is probably older. I would say this would have been the range being produced right up until WWII stopped civilian production. Or, it may be what the company turned out immediatly after the war. Landers brought out the SpeedLiner series (very round and bubbly) in 1948. Mine is a Mercury series and was one generation up from when the ranges came with legs.

The Speedliner series was the last ranges offered before the company sold off the entire major appliance products in 1952.

Mine does have infinate heat control on the "burners" or should I say "eyes". I have yet to figure those out - I have not begun to tear into this stove. One interesting feature about the control knobs, is right behind the panel. A "cam" shaped "door" controls the amount of light source coming from behind the panel that ends up illuminating the red "jewel" above the control knob. Presumably to show the user how high the heat is selected. I am interested in seeing what this looks like in operation. As of yet no power has been applied to any part of the range. It needs to be worked on - a lot.