Category: Horology
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Making a Dividing Plate
As part of reconstructing an 18th century American wheel cutting engine I am exploring techniques used to divide and cut the teeth into gears (known in horology as wheels). Instead of quite laboriously marking out the divisions onto the wheel to be cut, as I previously explored, I am going to try using a dividing…
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Cutting a Brass Gear by Hand (Without a Dividing Plate)
As part of my reconstruction of a wheel cutting engine, I cut a brass gear by hand with files, a saw, and a treadle-powered lathe. I did not use a dividing plate but rather marked the divisions straight onto the wheel. This is part of my reconstruction of an eighteenth century wheel cutting engine. I…
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Dominy Wheel Cutting Engine Prototype
For my masters thesis at Winterthur, I have chosen to research a wheel cutting engine in the Dominy collection. Made (or perhaps purchased or commissioned) in the 1770’s by Nathaniel Dominy IV, it is a tool used to aid in cutting the teeth on clock wheels. Compared to other wheel cutting engines, it has several…
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Verge or Crown Wheel Escapement Comtoise/Morbier Clock
This is a french Comtoise or Morbier clock with a crown wheel escapement. Also known as a verge escapement, this form of controlling the release of energy is the earliest known type of escapement, and the one used for the longest time, supplanted in the early to mid 19th century by the anchor escapement. Here’s…
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Repairing an Eli Terry 30-Hour Wooden Clock
Here is a beautiful Pillar and Scroll clock, likely dating to the 1820’s or 1830’s. Eli Terry innovated new ways to produce wooden works clocks, achieving the first mass-production with interchangeable parts. Several very clever design and production details made this clock affordable to more people than previous brass-movement tall case clocks were. Our first…
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30 Hour Ogee
Ogees are my favorite (of the common clocks I see) to work on. Here’s a nice example I fixed for my friend Thomas. It had a series of small issues: The suspension spring was bent and kinked. I was able to just straighten it out. The escapement pallets had some wear in the form of…
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Treadle Powered Watchmakers Lathe; or Becoming a Cyborg
I bought a treadle or pedal powered watchmakers bench on facebook marketplace from a kind clockmaker. The bench did not come with a lathe, so I planned to use my electric powered watchmakers lathe – just without the electric motor. I drilled holes about a 1/4 inch into the table to recess the feet of…
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![Vice for Clock Wheels [Gear Wheels]](https://whatwillmakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/20250713_201044-e1753335902553.jpg?w=1024)
Vice for Clock Wheels [Gear Wheels]
A very nice clockmaker showed me a tool I’d never seen before: a vice for holding clock wheels to easily work on them. The jaws of the vice are shaped perfectly to hold a wheel for easy access with files or polishing sticks: I set out making my own based off the pictures I took.…
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Dickory Dickory Clock: Curing “Mouseitis”
“Dickory Dickory dockThe mouse ran up the clockThe clock struck oneThe mouse sat stillThe Dickory Dickory clock was ill!” Here is a charming clock invented by Elmer Ellsworth Dungan around 1908 for his daughter who loved the nursery rhyme: “The Dickory Dickory Clock.” [at various times and places the rhyme has gone “hickory dickory,” “dickory…
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Hand Tools Toolbox
I have outgrown my tool roll so decided to make a dedicated toolbox for the main hand tools I use for repairing clocks. This is one post in a series about my various homemade toolboxes: so if that’s your thing, strap in! Those are all the tools I want to store and have easy access…