Goblin Model 46 Electric Clock
I was given this clock several years ago. It was mains-powered but I found that the coil was open circuit. I could possibly have re-wound this but didn’t fancy that job, or paying for the wire. Another option would be to re-wind it with fewer turns of thicker wire and run it at a lower voltage via a transformer. I wasn’t keen on that either as working out the coil details would be tricky.
Now I don’t give a rat's rear end about ‘Authenticity.’ I don’t regard what I do with old radios, telephones &c to be ‘Restoration;’ I simply want things to be useful and to look nice.
The obvious thing to do to this clock therefore was to fit a quartz movement but I wanted to do it an a way that wasn’t obvious or that involved heavy modification to the case or face. I hadn’t really looked into that side of things as the other problem was getting one with suitable hands; the trouble was as much available sizes as styles.
Eventually I got fed-up of it cluttering me up and decided it was time to either mend or bin it.
I ordered a movement for a quid and thought it would be possible to bush the old hands to fit. When this arrived I found the hour hand fitted as was and the minute hand did after pinching the collet up a bit. I devised a way to mount the movement without enlarging the hole in the face and also refinished the case as it had been done with some horrible ‘mahogany’ coloured varnish.
It now looks very nice and doesn’t need to be near a socket, which it would monopolise and need a cord trailing about, and there are no safety concerns — not that such things concern me anyway.
I certainly wouldn’t do this to a mechanical clock but this was electric in the first place and still is. As the movement is a sweep type there isn’t even a tick every second.
Now I don’t give a rat's rear end about ‘Authenticity.’ I don’t regard what I do with old radios, telephones &c to be ‘Restoration;’ I simply want things to be useful and to look nice.
The obvious thing to do to this clock therefore was to fit a quartz movement but I wanted to do it an a way that wasn’t obvious or that involved heavy modification to the case or face. I hadn’t really looked into that side of things as the other problem was getting one with suitable hands; the trouble was as much available sizes as styles.
Eventually I got fed-up of it cluttering me up and decided it was time to either mend or bin it.
I ordered a movement for a quid and thought it would be possible to bush the old hands to fit. When this arrived I found the hour hand fitted as was and the minute hand did after pinching the collet up a bit. I devised a way to mount the movement without enlarging the hole in the face and also refinished the case as it had been done with some horrible ‘mahogany’ coloured varnish.
It now looks very nice and doesn’t need to be near a socket, which it would monopolise and need a cord trailing about, and there are no safety concerns — not that such things concern me anyway.
I certainly wouldn’t do this to a mechanical clock but this was electric in the first place and still is. As the movement is a sweep type there isn’t even a tick every second.