Antique and Vintage Clocks

I was asked to take a look at this German made wall clock from the 1980s. The owner said it had not been running for 3 years. It is a German made Jauch wall clock from the late 1970s.

Sadly, the doors of the Jauch clock company closed many years ago. Jauch was not a notable supplier of whole clocks but Jauch did produce lots of clock movements after WWII to various assemblers. Many of these assemblers made clock cases or supplied kits with faces, hands and pendulum assemblies from other sources.

The company

Jauch was related to one of the oldest Black Forest clock-maker families. The Gerbrueder Jauch company manufactured hall, wall and mantel clocks and movements for the trade including those that were spring and weight operated. In late 1979, the company fell victim to a curtailed export limiting production. Gerbrueder Jauch GmbH eventually went bankrupt in 1986. The remaining stock was purchased by a leading clock/watch supply house in the USA.

The company was a respected supplier of relatively inexpensive but attractive clocks for the average home.

An attractive little clock

This particular clock measures 28″ from spire to lowest decorative finial, 9″ wide and 6″ deep. It is a rack and snail time and strike with a spring driven movement. The date of production is October 1979. An inscription inside the case indicates that it was sold in late 1980. The case is a faux Vienna style popular in the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Jauch clocks suffer from the same issues as many German clocks of the 1970s and 80s, chrome plated pivot wear and worn out barrels. They were cheaply made often with plastic parts and thin brass gears and plates. In the case of this clock movement I don’t think plated pivots will be problem for some time and there are no plastic parts. The movement looks very clean. The owner says that it had been serviced at least once and other than stopping 3 years ago I doubt that it has had much running through its life.

I leveled the clock on the wall, pushed the pendulum and the clock stopped after a few seconds. The pallet assembly allows for adjusting the crutch by moving it from side to side to find the correct beat. Simply push the crutch to the left or the right to find the beat. Once in beat the clock ran strongly. Is it possible the clock stopped simply because it was out of beat?

There was little point in taking the movement apart. I took the movement out of its case, inspected it for wear, observed that the oil sinks were dry and after lubricating with clock oil I returned it to its case, hung it on the wall, adjusted the hammer for the best resonance and tested it for a week to confirm that it runs a full 8-day cycle.

These movements can be repaired, but it takes extra care to get them running smoothly. Hermle replacement kits are often substituted for Jauch movements as a new movement is generally less than the cost of repair. However, this clock has minimal wear and should run problem free for years to come.