My first windup clock

[Johan de Jong]

I'm very happy with this find: my first windup clock! At the front it is unlabelled or missing its label. At the back it reads ’No. 16505’. I’ve seen the same model branded as Rhythm, Bradley or Heurovision. Not sure about it's age, but by the style I guess it might be from the late sixties or early seventies.





It is a 12 hour clock with 5 tiles per hour. It has two springs, one for the time and one for the alarm. Fully wound it will run for a little over 24 hours. The alarm is a very loud bell that is guaranteed to wake you up. If you can sleep at all that is, since this one is a ticker ;-)

Pity the window is cracked. From the front it is hardly visible, but when looking at an angle you can see the perspex is littered with small cracks. I have not found a way yet to fix or improve this, so if anybody knows, suggestions are welcome!



The mechanism is largely hidden in the bell. It is the same mechanism as the Elgin 16506 that Mackey showed in detail in the below video.

[Mackey]

Yeah. I still like my wind up but I rarely run it. It’s a ticker!

[Tony Griffiths]

I just found one of these at a vide grenier in France. Case a bit grim, fully wound, and would tick for just a few seconds. The Perspex case is also cracked/split. I paid the asking price of €10!

Whatever was stopping it going released itself as soon as I removed the cover. I will clean it properly when I get back home. It runs for about 23 hours, so must need a clean to get up to the standard £25 hours.

This one is branded RHYTHM.

[Tony Griffiths]

This shows the uncovered mechanism before cleaning and oiling.
you can also see the crack in the perspex. I have glued the underside to protect it from movement, but do not want glue on the visible section.

Tony.

[Tony Griffiths]

No matter how clean these things look, it is always remarkable what you can remove.