I recently found on E Bay a beautiful but neglected Le Coultre travel clock. It is in unloved condition and worthy of a second chance at life. The clock is on the bench and taking stock, the casing is dark alligator leather and needs some TLC. The dial has been exposed with the glass missing. It is dirty with paint chips and the hands are missing. The stem is missing and I have already found out it is particular and complicated setting hands, and the alarm, and winding both. I was hoping to be able to make one but it appears I can source a replacement. The movement is clean and appears to run. Hard to get sufficient wind without the stem to get a Timegrapher reading. I would say acceptable but we will service this clock anyway.

The movement is partially stripped and a broken screw in the main plate may cause problems. I will start to work on the case and send the dial to Kate our art restoration expert. The broken screw holds a cover plate for the alarm setting wheel. It is a nuisance but one screw will hold it in place for the time being. The movement is stripped and cleaned and reassembled. There is a plate that has the jewels for the escape wheel and pallet fork and forth wheel. This is an absolute nightmare to realign and fit.The dial plate has the day date and moth with jumper springs and correctors. It is all reassembled and tested. this is a truly beautiful arrangement and so well made, what you come to expect from Le Coultre. With the movement out of the case this can receive some attention. The leather is re glued and then waxed up to a glorious sheen. The tolerances in all of this clock and case are tight so refitting the movement was attention getting.

The end result is great and you can see why high fashion house like Hermes and Tiffany sold these clocks. this was not a difficult project but it battled at every step and tested your patience. The last straw was when reassembled the clock wouldn’t keep even close to time, On the timegrapher a good signal and reasonable results but not reflected in the hands. Only thing it could be is an issue with the cannon pinion. Good running movement but not transferring this to the hands through its friction fit. This is a very long cannon pinion and although I tried traditional tightening I had little success. The solution a trick passed to me from a retired watchmaker, a coarse hair is slid down the length of the pinion and then refitted, it gives the added tolerance needed to drive the hands and does not harm the movement.A replacement cannon pinion can be sourced at a later stage.