Clocks .... in space!

hjames

We are all just walking each other home.
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In our multimedia room, I like to have a (quiet) clock on the side - just so I don't get lost in music or a movie.
I don't want it distracting from a film - low key is great.
I had a nice clock in there, but it was a bit hard to see when the lights were dimmed.

For this one, I blame Sanford12, my friends! ;)
He listed and sold a Jefferson Golden Hour Mystery clock on AK about a month or so back.
At least I think it was him - he IS the clock man ...
Anyway, I saw the "SOLD" ad, and thought the clock looked real interesting, Googled it, and found the Roger-Russell site, and read all about them, and was even more intrigued. They really do look really cool! The hands just seem to float in space inside the ring. Looks kind of like the Stargate in the movie!

Anyway, I missed the one he sold on AK a couple weeks back, so I went to ebay and did a search, and found one for a reasonable price - listed as "Antique Jefferson Golden Hour Mystery Clock not working for parts" I like to tinker and the price was good, so I put in a bid and won it for that price.

It arrived yesterday, I opened it up - glass dial was not broken (Yeay!) played with it a bit to set the time, and ... so far, its been keeping perfect time since 7PM last night! You kind of have to fiddle a bit to set the time - its not intuitive - so maybe the seller didn't get how to set it and thought it was broken - ah well! :)

I put it on a wooden box on the Salamander console on the far right of the HDTV, set so
it's illuminated from behind in a dark room when we watch TV!
There's usually not much in the lower right corner of the screen.

I bought a (different) clock from Sanford12 a couple years back, it was still working until I unplugged it to connect this new clock.
And although this one wasn't from him, his Jefferson Clock SOLD post inspired me to find one of my own!
I'd never seen one in person before - but Emma loves the look of it, and so do I!

Clock_4980.jpg Clock_4979.jpg
 
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More info from my searches ...

Roger Russell (How to service them)
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http://www.roger-russell.com/jeffers/jefmotr.htm


https://timesavers.com/i-9994866-golden-helm-golden-minute-golden-view-motor.html
A place for motors & parts

There are some variations in this family of clocks ...

The Golden Hour Mystery clock is the most common design ...
The Golden Helm Mystery clock has a nautical theme ...
The Golden View Mystery clock has a wide walnut base for the mantle ...

GoldenHour MysteryClock.jpg GoldenHelm MysteryClock.jpg Golden View MysteryClock.jpg
 
I have had a Jefferson clock on my list of cool vintages pieces I want for awhile

People on this site have similar tastes
 
I remember my grandparents had one back in '50's. I was intrigued by it as an urchin. Maybe my brother still has it. Thanks for the memory!
 
Also have one, fascinated me as as a kid.
The other one I remembered and wanted was the Kundo Electronic pendulum mystery clock.
Also have one of those.
 
Hey, I own a Jefferson Golden Hour clock also! Picked it up from an estate sale a while back. I saw it and fell in love...
It works but is slow, so I will be looking into the sites you kindly passed on!
These clocks also had glow in the dark hour and minute hands and numbers. The paint used is actually radium paint, which is still radioactive after all these years!

I have another vintage clock, kinda in space also. It's the Westclox Oracle, circa 1947, which I purchased at the same estate sale. I guess the former owner had a thing for floating clocks!
It works fine, but there's a crack in the rear glass at the 11:00 position.

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hjames you drew me into this fascinating clock. I searched and found one. I bought a lot of three clocks . Listed as one working and two not working. One was damaged in shipping. I now have two working Golden Hour clocks. Thank you for the thread.
 

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I've long been fascinated by the Jefferson Golden Hour clock. A neighbor gave me one many years ago, and it began an electric clock collection which currently numbers several dozen. I have acquired several other visually-interesting clocks, including a Westclox Oracle as pictured above (mine somehow has managed to stay crack-free!), an original Aurora Clock, a Telechron 4F51 (along with several other nice-looking Telechron clocks like the 4F71 and 3H159), and a Mastercrafters "Atmos" (not actually powered by changes in barometric pressure as with the one seen above, but rather a conventional electric motor). Makes watching time fly by all the more interesting. :crazy::confused::p
-Adam

lavaclock_small.jpg

telechron4f51a_small.jpg

aurora3.jpg

telechron4f71_1.jpg

deskclocks_small.jpg
 
Very nice! Now I have more clocks to look for! My wife thanks you. :).
I've long been fascinated by the Jefferson Golden Hour clock. A neighbor gave me one many years ago, and it began an electric clock collection which currently numbers several dozen. I have acquired several other visually-interesting clocks, including a Westclox Oracle as pictured above (mine somehow has managed to stay crack-free!), an original Aurora Clock, a Telechron 4F51 (along with several other nice-looking Telechron clocks like the 4F71 and 3H159), and a Mastercrafters "Atmos" (not actually powered by changes in barometric pressure as with the one seen above, but rather a conventional electric motor). Makes watching time fly by all the more interesting. :crazy::confused::p
-Adam

lavaclock_small.jpg

telechron4f51a_small.jpg

aurora3.jpg

telechron4f71_1.jpg

deskclocks_small.jpg
 
We had one when I was growing up. I thought it was the coolest thing around!

So did I. I remember being fascinated by the one that sat on top of THE television in the living room as far back as I can remember. I think that would be in the late 50s or early 60s (please don’t do the math!). I remember being all proud of myself at a very young age for figuring out how it worked. I think that my sister still has it.
 
Radium is great as a driver of radioluminence except its alpha particles are so strong they physically splatter the paint with time. The paint with its zinc sulfide fails first.

Take care if you try to clean it. There's not much there but any in your system is more than you want. The decay daughters are hot too

Tritium in tubes is the modern technology but the half life is only 12 years

Did a senior paper on the subject back in nuclear engineering school
 
Very nice! Now I have more clocks to look for! My wife thanks you. :).

Not sure I'm going to let my wife see this. We already have around forty clocks in the house. Although that Golden Hour clock is tempting. I wonder if EBay could get one here in time for Christmas. There are several listed.
 
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