356 Clock repair

[Nate Greene]

I have a clock with second hand and am considering a conversion to quartz.

Where is the best place to send it? North Hollywood?

Does a conversion to quartz devalue the clock?

Is this a good idea?

Thoughts?

Nate Greene
Tennessee Tubs

[Mark Reich]

This seems like a personal question. You have a vintage mechanical clock with all of the charm and character of such a device, coupled with issues of practicality and reliability. A quartz clock will be reliable and accurate, but will lack the original character and will have an essentially disposable movement. They will look much the same, but the quartz clock will be a modern device valued for its usability. I like winding my watch, but then again I still like using a vintage Leica more than my digital Nikon. Seems like maintaining the vintage quality of the mechanical clock will maintain its value. I believe you can buy a quartz clock outright. If you send the old one out for conversion, they will simply throw away the original mechanism. Why not just buy a quartz clock and put the original on the shelf so that you maintain the value of the mechanical clock while obtaining the reliability of the quartz?

My $.02.

Mark

[Spencer Harris]

Nate,
I had Hartmut at N. Hollywood Speedometer go through the gauges for my '58 Cab and convert the original clock to a quartz movement. I had him return the original mechanical works to me after the conversion, so I could keep it with the car if I ever sell it. Mark is spot-on regarding the authenticity value and I think his suggestion is quite valid. I now wish I had bought a quartz clock outright, as I have an old display cabinet with several 356 momentos where the original clock would look very snappy along with my old 35mm cameras

[Brian Powers]

Hi Nate,
If your clock with the second hand has the set at 6:00, I will swap you a working original clock (set in the middle) in either 6 or 12 volt, and throw in a clock with quartz movement as well.
Brian
1960 T5

[David Lawrence]

I have had a speedometer in the works for 7 weeks at one of these, I won't say which one, repair shops. From my ongoing experience and the comments I read here it appears that both of these shops have good repair skills but the organizational abilities of a 3 yrear old child.

If one of these shops put someone in place to organize the operation it would soon double its throughput and put the other out of business.

I still have a clock that needs service and with what I am going through now I have decided to just leave it in the vehicle, disconnect it and set the time at 3:56.

[Thomas Sottile]

I had my clock repaired, it worked for a month or so then stopped again then I had the Quartz's movement installed and I haven't lost a second. It is a matter of weather you want to know the time or know you have the original clock.

[Nate Greene]

Great information with a common theme.

I got pricing from two vendors to convert the clock to a quartz movement:

One was $350 plus shipping, 1 year warranty. 4 weeks turnaround.
The other was $225 plus shipping, 3 weeks turnaround, no mention of warranty.

Not sure why such a big difference.

Nate
1965 356C Cabriolet

[Paul Hatfield]

My own clock repair is shown on my website. Video included. You might want to give it a try yourself.
Just a thought.
The clock repair is in the Interior Section at http://www.enginesinback.com
Good luck-
Paul

[Mervyn Hyde]

This was indeed useful. I had been told by the original owner of the car that he had the clock 'looked at' twice but it could't be repaired. I looked at it twice and it could. The 356B clock is the usual electro-mechanical one and it has the usual burned out fusible link that stopped the contacts triggering the winding mechanism. Everything else was fine and with a little cleaning and light lubrication, responded well. Seems that 44 years of inactivity saved wear on the teeth on the clock gears.

The other suggestion is found on this Forum was to remove the #2 fuse before reinstalling clock. All good now and I have functioning clock that isn't permanently set at quitting time.

[Jon Schmid]

I have had a speedometer in the works for 7 weeks at one of these, I won't say which one, repair shops. From my ongoing experience and the comments I read here it appears that both of these shops have good repair skills but the organizational abilities of a 3 yrear old child.

If one of these shops put someone in place to organize the operation it would soon double its throughput and put the other out of business.

I still have a clock that needs service and with what I am going through now I have decided to just leave it in the vehicle, disconnect it and set the time at 3:56.

I'll name names only because I had the opposite experience with North Hollywood. I dropped my cable drive tach off there a couple years ago and they offered to fix it on the spot. Since I couldn't hang out for the few hours it would take to fix I told them to ship it to me when it was done. I got it back 2 days later and it still works great. As for my clock, it's not working so until I get it fixed, yes, it reads 3:56.

[Jim Alton]

My 356A has no clock but my VW and 911 do. The 911's clock is getting to be unacceptably inaccurate but I don't want a quartz conversion--I think the "vintage car clock accuracy" is part of the period.

I had the VW's clock repaired decades ago at a local clock shop in Fairborn, Ohio and it held up for years. When it failed again I sent it to North Hollywood for a quartz movement. It is indeed reliable and accurate now but it doesn't seem quite right for the car.

The 911's now losing a couple minutes per hour so I may start looking for a shop to improve it.

[Mike Wilson]

I agree that putting a quartz movement in a 356 clock defeats the authenticity of it. In the past, I have had clocks repaired by both Palo Alto and North Hollywood, however, parts for the clocks have dried up. So, I've had subequent clocks retrofitted with quartz movements. With quartz, you won't hear that familiar electro-mechanical action and, with a second hand clock, the second hand ticks rather than sweeps.

As Mervyn suggested, see if the fusable link has burned out, repair it if needed, clean the insides with an electronic cleaner and see if you can get it going again. I also use watch oil to lubricate the gears, etc.

As far as adjusting the clock to keep time, that's a challenge (for me at least). Adjust +, adjust - until it's fairly accurate. If anyone has a scientific way of adjusting it, I'd love to hear it!

Finally, I found that the clocks often don't work well because of an ineffective ground with the clock bracket to the back of the dash. I run a ground jumper wire from the threaded rod of the clock to a good ground under the dash, usually a bolt securing the widshield wiper mechanism.

[Mervyn Hyde]

My clock seems to gain about 3 mins a day. Gaining is good. I could pull it out and play with the + speed control, but as Mike suggests, why tempt fate? The little 'zrrrp' noise every now and then as it winds, is kind of reassuring. However, if it breaks again, the use of a soulless quartz movement maybe on the cards.

[Bill Tate]

Mervyn, Several years ago I had NHS rebuild my clock after they had done the two instruments clusters. The original owner had a '60 sweep second hand clock installed above the ashtray in the Speedster's dash. The clock has always worked great but looked dirty after the others were rebuilt. NHS offered to swap out the old electro-magnetic winder for a Quartz movement but I kept the mechanical movement and just had them cleaned the glass and points. My experience with NHS was excellent. I have installed a toggle switch on the back side of the clock's retaining clamp so I can reach up and turn it off if I'm not going to be driving it for a while. The idea is the save the points. One has to believe they have a fixed number of cycles. I like to hear the old winding 'zrrrp' (as you said) when I turn it on and set it to the correct time. You never hear it with the engine running. It gains a couple minutes a day, no big deal.
Mike, You are correct about the requirement for a secure ground connection for the clock power return. Do not rely on the mounting bracket/dash connection for a good ground.
KTF.

[Mervyn Hyde]

Thanks Bill. Yes NHS seem on the ball with these things, but they are a long way from Australia and with freight both ways .. the cost and time can mount up. Besides I love to do my research and then tinker. I find if I can understand how something works, I can usually fix it with time. The points on mine were pretty good. I cleaned and gave them a light touch with a points file. Next job is fitting this starter (switch protection) relay I have made up!

Cheers