Emperor clock chimes

QuestionEdit

My wife's Emperor 100-M clock chimes are out of whack. There are several symptoms - the chimes will sequence through the westminster sequence several times, and then bong the hour. Then it will chime the quarter hour, the half hour, the 3/4 hour and then again the hour four times. I have the face off the clock, and can see the mechanism. It looks like the main lever that controls the chimes is not dropping into the notches that control the westminster chimes at the proper time in sequence to allow the hour bongs to work at the end of the first cycle of the westminster chimes. Do you have any ideas? Also, I could use a manual if a copy is available. (My wife'd great uncle made the clock in about 1977.)

AnswerEdit

Max, the 100M was Emperors designation for the movement, which was manufactured by either Erhard Jauch, or later, Heinz Jauch. There were some issues with the quality of the movement as far as wear in some of the bushings because of the materials used. Emperor eventually switched to Hermle movements and Jauch went out of business. The first symptom of this wear is the failure of the chime function, as it has to do more work than the time or strike functions. In your case it could be a cam that is slipping or a lever is bent or worn. If the components of the chime train slip and get out of sync, the sequencing could become erratic. Also, the cause could be that it has worn parts and/or gummy lubricants. It would be rather difficult for me to tell you how to diagnose and fix the problem you are having without actually seeing it myself. If the clock hasn't been serviced in the last 7 to 10 years, it should be looked at by and experienced clockmaker. If you don't know of one near you, let me know the area in which you live and I'll see if any of my Internet Clocksmiths Group might be near you. One note, and that is that most service shops that have had experience with this model usually don't attempt to repair them as they have to be completely overhauled, which often reaches or exceeds the cost of a conversion kit to a different movement. I do these conversions in my shop quite frequently. I do have the installation and maintenance manual for the Emperor 100M movements. It offers troubleshooting tips, but not repairs or adjustments as you probably need. If you want to contact me at my shop email address below, I can give you some more details.