Jeco tuning fork motor stopping after a few minutes

[Johan de Jong]

Hi, I bought a nice French Flash flip clock (aka Vedette) that has the Jeco tuning fork movement. I believe this is the same movement that used in some Copal clocks. The motor starts and runs for a while, but stops after a few minutes.



To investigate I detached the motor. The flip mechanism appears to work fine without excessive force.
The motor on the other hand does not. Unloaded it runs fine, but any load on the outgoing axle will make it stop immediately.

I have no experience with these motors so I do not know what to expect. One thing I noticed and found somewhat suspicious is that one wheel as indicated in the picture below is spinning freely on the rotor axis. Is this normal?



Any further help or advice is welcome!

[flipoclock]

That is a nice clock, I think I have the same clock some where, battery operated as well but not with the tuning fork mechanism.

I do not have much experience with this type of motor but the free spinning wheel seems to be normal. It could be a case of lubrication needed. I believe the points where it needs it are indicated on the clockwork itself... There are electronic components that could fail, but not sure if that could result in the clock running but stopping after a few minutes.

[Johan de Jong]

Yesterday evening I very lightly lubricated the end of all the smaller fast rotating axles. And it appears to have made a difference: this morning it was still running on time. I don't dare to put out the flag too early, but it certainly looks hopeful I'll let it run another 24 hours, fingers crossed...

[Johan de Jong]

Five days later and it still runs
Here is the result: https://www.flipclockfans.com/forum/...ck-from-france