# Auction find: Junghans Trivox Alarm Clock



## cptbluebear (Aug 26, 2009)

Hi,

I picked this up on the weekend at a local deceased estate auctions for $20. There was plenty of interesting stuff, both watch/clock related and otherwise. I know enough to know that Junghans were/are German and made some of the best regarded alarm clocks in the world, but beyond that any information would be appreciated. It's labelled Junghans Trivox Silentric on the face and appears to have been painted cream at some point.










I say "appears to" because it's not a good job and the paint has started to dissolve where meths I was using to clean oil and dirt from the metalwork has touched it I can't believe the likes of Junghans would have used a paint that is alcohol soluble, still soft and have used it so badly. I presume the owner painted it at some point to make it look more modern. Many of the pictures I can find on the net show painted cases, others show unpainted brass. All seem to show the button surround as unpainted brass. Any ideas what mine would have been originally? Should I clean off this paint or leave it? You can see the chips in the pictures above and below.










Further, how do I remove the mechanism from the housing? There seem to be some marks on the _inside_ of the glass (it looks suspiciously like mold up close) that I'd like to clean off. Obviously, the screw on legs secure it at the bottom and the alarm button mechanism does so at the top, but how do I remove the latter? There is a collar on the shaft that looks like it has to be removed so the button and shaft can be lifted out of a shaft that is threaded on the outside (you can see this in picture below at the top if you know what you are looking for). Can anyone tell me how to remove this collar and more importantly, how to put it back?










The bell / rear cover below halfway through cleaning. I seems to be covered with some sort of varnish. It's not tarnish - I know what tarnished brash is like. Original or has someone applied it later. Either way, it had to go either to be redone or for good.










It runs nicely and keeps surprisingly good time. Power reserve seems to be about 30 hours, is that reasonable? It's very quiet: I've had quartz alarm clocks that ticked louder than this. The alarm mechanism works but the striker seems to be fouling somehow. I'll see if I can fix that when I reassemble it.

I hope someone can clue me in on these things. They appear to be pretty collectable but not exactly rare.

Laurie


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## cptbluebear (Aug 26, 2009)

Answering my own question dept, but might be useful info for someone else with one of these.

The collar I referred to above turns out, on closer inspection, to be a circlip. After rotating it so that the split is away from me, I removed it with needle nosed pliers. The button then comes out and as expected reveals a kind of set-screw. Remove that the mechanism lifts out from the back. Viola! I have access to the glass which has cleaned up very nicely although there are a few spots of what, if this were a camera lens, I'd bet are mold spores. I wonder if this clock was ever in the tropics? The whole thing is not even remotely sealed.

The face is perfect except for one small mark between the 5 and the 6 (visible in pic no 2 above).

I'm thinking that I should send the mechanism off to be serviced while I clean the case up. 

I'm now completely confused about the paint. The button surround is a separate piece (it's retained by the button and fell off when it was removed) shows definite signs of overspray on it's underside. You can see in the pic above, that it looks like was painted in-situ by someone with a heavy hand, but there's paint underneath where it sits. Anyone know about the original finish on these things?


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## cptbluebear (Aug 26, 2009)

The glass after cleaning and polishing.










Deliberately photographed from a low angle to catch the reflection and show up any flaws. Sweet as a nut. The glass is quite thin and light compared to the rest of the clock.

Now to start on the brass work with wire wool. This could take some time. I'll keep posting pics in the hope of catching the eye of someone who knows about these things and can tell me a bit about it.


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## fabuid (Jan 21, 2012)

Hi there. I've got one of these as well, and I've been trying to get it opened as well. How did you get the rear cover off? Cheers.


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