I inherited my parents' Elgin 400 day anniversary clock and don't know how to properly wind it. I remember there were specific instructions as to how many turns to make after a particular interval of time. But, my memory doesn't coincide with a complicated schedule I found, written in my mother's hand, with entries such as, ''12 turns, 4 mo., 5/21/94; 15 turns, 5 mo., 9/17/94; 20 turns, 6 mo., 8/17/95.'' It seems she was progressively increasing the number of turns and length of time between windings, but I'm not sure what she was doing exactly. The clock is 20-25 years old and reads, ''S Haller, Made in Germany, One (1) jewel, Unadjusted'' on the back plate. I don't know if this helps or not, but I'm hoping for some kind of advice on how to properly wind the clock without messing up the internal mechanisms. Thank you very much.
Wind the clock until there is a sudden increase in resistance (it is then fully wound). So not apply a great force, as older clocks may be weaker and overloading the spring may break the termination and result in a new spring being required.
If you think it is becoming too stiff, just stop winding and see how long it runs for. I have often heard the term "over winding at clock" but have never quite understood the term. As a retired engineer I think that springs that break because of overenthusiastic winding are probably near the end of their life anyway.
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