# Haller German Time Bomb Anniversary Clock Safety Questions



## Cheezhead (Nov 3, 2010)

Without knowing the full story about what I was buying, I recently bought a very nice looking Elgin-Haller windup anniversary clock. The internet is replete with cautions regarding the dangers of the mainspring of this design coming loose to break through the thin mainspring case and then through the glass dome as well. I have some questions about making the clock safer and a maintenance question.

1. I am attempting to come up with a way to enclose the spring with an external 3 sided wooden box or possibly with three heavy nylon wire ties loosely wound around the "S" shaped mainspring yet enclosed inside the cover so as to make the modification invisible or any other suggested method of enclosing the spring. I need other ideas to safely enclose the mainspring please.

2. As a practical and realistic approach, it is reasonably safe to completely, rather than partially wind the mainspring without expecting one of the nylon plastic mainspring drums to break? Which nylon drum is more likely to break, the upper or lower?

3. I am thinking of coating the mainspring on one side or both sides if I can with a teflon lube while most of the length of the spring is exposed during winding. The intent is to eliminate the possibility of mainspring "judder" that can occur while the mainspring unwinds when the clock is running. Apparently the "judder" can cause the non-ratchet type mainspring clutch to fail to hold. Is teflon likely to work? I hesitate to use an oil or grease that might eventually get gummy but do not know anything about mainspring grease. The mainspring appears to be dry. Comments please?

4. The pendulum does not use the typical fragile wire suspension; is instead a seemingly much more rugged upper and lower jeweled bearing design. The gears and escapement appear to be very clean when viewed through a magnifier. The upper bearing seems accessible to add oil. Would it be a good thing to disassemble the pendulum to add a little clock oil to the lower jewel or can I do that through what appears to be an access hole on the bottom side? The pendulum swing is about 270 degrees.

TIA for any advice that is provided and if you can answer or comment on any one or more questions, that is fine.


----------



## John MS (Mar 17, 2006)

Cheezhead said:


> Without knowing the full story about what I was buying, I recently bought a very nice looking Elgin-Haller windup anniversary clock. The internet is replete with cautions regarding the dangers of the mainspring of this design coming loose to break through the thin mainspring case and then through the glass dome as well. I have some questions about making the clock safer and a maintenance question.
> 
> 1. I am attempting to come up with a way to enclose the spring with an external 3 sided wooden box or possibly with three heavy nylon wire ties loosely wound around the "S" shaped mainspring yet enclosed inside the cover so as to make the modification invisible or any other suggested method of enclosing the spring. I need other ideas to safely enclose the mainspring please.
> 
> ...


Sounds like a fundamentally poor design. Given that anniversary clocks are fairly common and not expensive I would suggest that you look for another.


----------

