Maintaining Your Clock

Cleaning

One of the main features of my clocks is having the mechanical moving parts exposed for all to see and enjoy, rather than being hidden away behind covers. However this does mean that the inevitable home dust and grime will need cleaning from the clock to ensure that it continues to run perfectly and look as amazing as it did the day you installed it.

Cleaning The Escapement

If you notice that the pendulum does not swing quite as far as it used to, it's going to be down to house grime on the escapement, and although this does not affect the time keeping it's nice to keep it clean.  The number of times you need to clean the escapement will depend on the location of your clock and the amount of dust, but as a general rule I would say every six months to a year would be all you need to do.

Cleaning the escapement should take no more than 2-3 minutes and is very simple to do.

Clean the pallets (the two parts that engage with the escapement wheel)

First stop the clock by gently holding the pendulum.

Use a dry cotton bud to clean the two surfaces of the left hand pallet that come into contact with the escapement wheel. Gently move the cotton bud over the pallet surfaces to remove any grime as shown in the image below. To gain more access to the left pallet you may want to gently move the pendulum by hand to the left but be careful not to go too far. Do not use any cleaning solutions.

 Cleaning the clock escapement

Repeat the same procedure for the right hand pallet as shown in the image below.

cleaning the clock pallets

Cleaning the Escapement Wheel

Again using a dry cotton bud clean the escapement wheel surfaces that come into contact with the pallets as shown in the image below.  You may find that in order to gain easy access to the wheel that you need to let the clock run for say 20 seconds so that the wheel rotates to an area where you can easily get to it.

 Cleaning the clock escapement wheel

And that's it you're all cleaned and ready to restart the clock.

Cleaning the clock

General Cleaning

Your clock will need occasional cleaning to remove house dust. Provided with your clock is a small soft brush which is to be used to gently remove dust as shown.

IMPORTANT: Never apply polish or cleaning products to the clock body or mechanism as this will cause running issues.

Lubricating

IMPORTANT: Do not lubricate the clock, all bearings are maintenance free and the wooden mechanism is designed to run without lubricant.

Miscellaneous

IMPORTANT: Never leave the clock wound but not running. If you're going away on holiday, just let the clock run until it runs out. Stopping the pendulum, and leaving the clock wound will leave a static load on the wooden gears and could over a period of time slightly distort them.