Seth Thomas Larkin No. 35

This is a Seth Thomas Clock sold by the Larkin Soap Co. it was referred to as model No. 35 in their catalog.  

I've had this clock since 2008, notice when I got it that the front feet are missing and replaced by what should be the rear feet.  There were a lot of white paint specks all over the top of the clock where someone didn't bother coving it up.   "Who does that?"   The person I bought it from said that it had been down his father's basement for as long as he can remember and his father had planned on restoring it but never got around to it.   Who knows how long its been since it ran.  

Doesn't look like anyone has serviced it in eon's   Not too many inside coils on the springs so no need to replace them.   It needs a bath... 

After a trip though the cleaner, now that's looking better...

Polished the pivots, and installed a couple of bushing to line things up again.

Ran it for a week to make sure there were no hidden problems after reassembly.

Time to start the case work.

Disassembly

Have some delamination problems that will need to be corrected, probably from sitting down that gentleman's basement for who knows how long.  Must have been damp?

This isn't going to be fun.

So far I've gotten rid of all the white paint specs and a bunch of scratches.

 Now its starting to look more like it did back in 1907

That's were I am right now, more to come on this restoration.   Correcting all the issues with the front piece is taking a lot of time. 

 The repair to the split and separating Adamantane turned out good I'd say  

Next to redo the gold in the incising designs.  

  Here are all the pieces minus the feet and columns, ready to go back together.

I worked on the metal ornaments this weekend.   I've noticed that a lot of people on ebay that restore clocks will paint everything metal on a Seth Thomas gold no matter what color they were originally from the factory.  These were copper plated and then sprayed with a coat of orange shellac originally.  I cleaned them up and only retouched the bad area's.   Then I coated them lightly with lacquer to give them that factory shine.   

Below is the main front piece.  I cleaned out all the wax form the incising in the process of redoing the gold.  I noticed the more wax and dirt I pulled from the grooves, the more of the original gold was appearing.  Kept on cleaning and was able to get 90% of the original gold from the factory, looked almost new.... so I decided to leave it alone than risk my paint not matching the original stuff. 

This weekend I put the case back together.   Now I have to concentrate on getting the dial, bezel, and hands into shape, but so far so good.   

Seth Thomas Larkin Model #722 Mantle Clock

This was my first clock that I totally restored.  I gave it to my parents for Christmas and still is probably the one I'm most proud of.  

Its a pre 1900 Seth Thomas mantle clock with a hip movement.  I believe the Larkin Soap Company gave these away if you bought so much of their product or you could save up Larkin Bond Coupons
 proving how much you could order items from their catalogue.  This clock was listed as #722 in their catalogue. 

I don't have any before photos of the clock case.  Back then I wasn't thinking about documenting my progress.   I know that I won it off ebay for $89.00 and add another 19 for shipping.   The finish was cloudy and dull, the incising could not been seen and the ornaments were very dull.   The dial was stained badly.

The works were actually in fairly good shape, some dried up oil and a few bad pivot holes that needed bushing.

 Styrofoam makes a great tool for keeping gears in place and in order during disassembly.   

Below is the finished product.  I added a side by side comparison of a like condition works so you could see the difference.   

Replaced the leather in the striker

Below is the finished clock.   I replaced the dial paper with a coated one, polished the brass bezel and ornaments.  Sprayed the dial with some brass shellac to keep it from tarnishing. Polished the case, highlighted the incising,  and cleaned up the ornaments.   Ready for another 100 plus years. 

Here is a comparison of what it started out like when I first got it....

Here is an old timey photo of this same model in the background on the wall with a clock topper

They must have used Larkin Soap... :)   

Also found it in the 1896 catalog which includes the stamped brass dial option.