Dugena mantel clock tear-down

Dugena mantel clock

 This is a Dugena mantel clock made around the early 1950s. It's style suggests an Art Deco influence.

Dugena is a German retail company that likely contracted out the cases and also contracted with various German movement manufacturers and then stamped their name on the product. Some have Junghans movements, some have Hermle and Mauthe perhaps and so on.

This particular one is a Hermle 2-train floating balance movement known popularly as a "Bim-Bam" clock. Three hammer Bim-Bam clocks make a distinctive 1-2 sound on the hour and 1/2 hour. Floating balance movements were popular from the 1950s onward.  FHS (or Hermle) is stamped on the front plate and Hermle makes mechanical movements to this day.

Spring barrels - partially torn down

I got the clock for $30 and it never really ran well. The person I bought it from said that it was not "perfect"; he was right, it was difficult regulating the time no matter how much I played with it. With pendulum clocks it is relatively easy to adjust the pendulum length but on a floating balance there is one adjustment on the balance wheel itself. No matter how much I adjusted it in the "-" direction it still ran too fast. It can even run "out of beat", something I learned only recently. That takes yet another adjustment. A balance wheel movement in good condition should have 360 degrees of rotation, this one does not and I would say 180 degrees at best. The bottom line, they are not the easiest clocks to adjust or to work on and this one is losing power somewhere.

second wheel needs to stay on the plate

 I gave it a dunk and swish to do a quick clean but following that process it refused to run for any length of time. It sat for a while while I considered what to do. Repair the movement of buy a new one? The case is still in very good shape so a new movement might still be an option.  But, a tear-down of this movement was deemed to be necessary.

second wheel

Dis-assembly requires that the clock be taken apart completely, inspected and cleaned with particular attention paid to the pivots, pivot holes, pallet, escarpment, escape wheel and so on. In the process I discovered that the pivots, wheels and pinions were actually in pretty good shape. Cleaning and polishing is the task at hand at this time. Nothing appears to be damaged or broken.

time and strike spring barrels

However,  I am not going to clean the springs. I do not have the equipment and the fact that the springs are in barrels leads me to think that they have stayed relatively free of dirt and grime over the years.

Hermle movement - front view with snail taken off

 This will take some time to complete. If it works after I put it all together - great. If it does not, well it is a learning experience.