McCormack Clock Repairs

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McCormack Clock Repairs

As a qualified horologist from the Irish Swiss Institute of Ireland,we specialise in the repair and restoration of all antique clocks & watches.

03/11/2026

Seth Thomas Sonora Chime...sit back and enjoy the melody...there is are a little knocking on the hour gong that I need to investigate. The suspension spring needs shortening just above the adjuster. For now it's test mode and fine-tuning the timekeeping.

Not a bad outcome given the condition it started in.

02/11/2026

Hola ...continuing my Seth Thomas Sonora restoration ...here I am finishing off the chime lifting arms, all the rust removed, uncovering a few scratches but too deep to remove without thinning the plate excessively. I've chosen to blue all the steelwork apart from the wheel arbours and main posts.

The felt dampening pad is showing its age. I want an even layer of felt for the hammer setup. Slicing away the top worn section and rebuilding the height with cork gives me just that!

All is ready now for the top plate, and everything will come together just fine 🙂

01/11/2026

For those who just happened upon this reel... I'm restoring this Seth Thomas Sonora Chime movement. This is the barrel from the chiming movement; the Sonora has a standard time and strike movement, which triggers the ¼ chime movement.

I wouldn't be a fan of a punched-over barrel lid; maybe this was how it was originally? I've certainly seen as large a diameter barrel without being punched closed!

Anyway, I quickly fashioned a little tool to undo the punched material so I could get at that massive spring, clean it, and grease it.

I assume it had been dunked in cleaning solution previously because it sure was clean. Which is strange given the overall condition of both movements, which were heavily rusted and badly worn!

31/10/2026

Cork hammer pads hardened over time and needed replacing. A little heat to soften the animal fat glue, and these were easily unscrewed. The holes and threads were cleaned out and ready for the replacement pads. I opted for rubber pads.

The steel I could save, but in order to do so, it needed to be returned to shiny steel. Looking at the hammer arms, the rust had all but consumed the material; brass would be used here.

18/10/2026

On to the chime movement on this Seth Thomas Sonora. Heavily rusted, hammer-armed, and other tricky components all need stripping back to shiny steel.

The hammer arms were too far gone; I ended up replacing them with brass. The cork pads from the hammers had become brittle and needed replacing. They were screwed, turned into a threaded hole, and secured with animal glue…all visible in the next reel.

Address

Unit 4B Connolly Street
Nenagh

Website

http://www.clockrepairs.ie/contact-us

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