Three clocks demanded his attention all at once, sort of. Paul had received an Anniversary Clock from work one year. Note: the name "Anniversary Clock" comes from the fact that supposedly one only has to pay attention to it once every 400 days, although 365 days would suffice, hence, the anniversary portion of the name. Official definition: "Unlike a regular pendulum clock, the Anniversary Clock keeps time with a mechanism called a torsion pendulum. This is a weighted disk or wheel, often a decorative wheel with 3 or 4 chrome balls on ornate spokes, suspended by a thin wire or ribbon called a torsion spring (also known as "suspension spring"). The torsion pendulum rotates about the vertical axis of the wire, twisting it, instead of swinging like an ordinary pendulum." Unfortunately the suspension wire had weakened and over-twisted, rendering the timekeeping useless. I thought it was just broken, so searched and found one on eBay for cheap. Guess what - same problem (it would have been nice of the seller to mention that, but like I said - it was cheap.
So we started looking into this. Paul took one of the clocks apart carefully, and saw what we needed. Unlike others of this ilk, these particular ones used a plastic end suspension wire, almost impossible to find. however, we did find one shop online that carried it, Timesavers. The part is a Hermle 400-Day Suspension Unit. We ordered, and Paul was able to fix them.
At the same time, the clock Paul made for his mom many years ago also needed repair. The parts for that (the box where the hand-moving mechanism is) were easier to find, although it took forever to arrive. We got these parts at Clockparts.
Side by side suspension wires.
The on on the right is the broken, twisted one.
Note the plastic ends.
The suspension from the inside
Close-up of the bottom plastic end inside the suspension
Part finally arrived, Mom's clock fixed!
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