Wall or Mantle Clock Kit WMKIT24

  • Westminster
  • Spring Driven
  • 7 inch overall dial diameter
  • Stick pendulum 8" tip to tip
  • Bottom 5 rod chimeblock
  • German made movement
  • 2-year warranty
  • $349

This is a quality German made Westminster chime spring driven movement. It has the popular 341-020 Hermle clock movement with the 5 hammers below and a front mounting system. This is an 8 day key wound movement with 100 mm plate width and height, the Hand shaft is 33.2 from the front plate and all the way out.

The kit comes with the movement, chime block and rods, the dial, hands and a key. The dial is a combination of dial / bezel / convex glass that is hinged so it will open in the front. This is a complete clock with out the wood case. The wood case would be either a wall clock or a shelf clock and this is to be built on the customers end.

Hermle Wall Clock Kit
hermle wall clock kit diagram

Listen to Westminster

Mechanical Wall Clock Kit


Packing List

Movement with leader and hand nut
Chimeblock and screws
Dial bezel glass combination
Dog ear style mounting brackets
Pendulum with its bob and rating nut
Spade Hands for a 6 inch time track
Number 8 Brass Key

Tools Needed

Nut driver ¼ inch size
Needle nose pliers
Small hammer
Small brass finishing nails
Medium sized flat head screwdriver



Mounting Instructions

Thank you for purchasing this clock kit! This is a quality German made Hermle 8 day key wind movement that will withstand the test of time. Here are some simple instructions to get you on your way.

1. Mount the Chime Block
After you build your clock case you will need to mount the chime block in the case first. The chime block comes with its bolts and washers for mounting to the bottom of the clock case. Simply drill holes in the bottom of the clock case, or your wood block that it is to be set on, and screw the bolts in with a flat screwdriver.

The final rest for the movement will be with the hammers on the block side of the chime block and rods, the hammers should be about ¼ inch down from the start of the rods in the block at rest. The hammers on the movement will be ? inch above each rod ideally, these hammers on the movement will most likely need to have a final adjustment regardless of how perfect the chime block is installed. Adjusting the hammers are done simply by bending up / down / side to side with the hammer wire rods, with your fingers to get to that ? inch above each rod height.

2. Mount the Movement
The Hermle 341 movement series is pretty diversified with its mounting capabilities as it can be mounted in the front, back or sometimes even bottom. It is best to come up with a mount that allows the back of the movement to be accessed without too much hassle, in case you need to change the suspension spring at some point or if the leader needs to be adjusted.

Front
For a front mounting method you would use the enclosed dog ear looking brackets and put them on the front plates pillar posts, under the hex nut that is holding the front on. Of course you would want to do only one at a time so the movement does not come apart on you, just remove one hex nut, put the bracket on, and then put the hex nut back on. Then do the rest the same way, one at a time. Since this is a front mount you’re going with, the movement will get attached to the front of the clock case with a board between the front of the movement and the clock dial.

Back
For a back mounting method you would use the enclosed dog ear looking brackets and put them on the back plates pillar posts, under the hex nut that is holding the front on. Of course you would want to do only one at a time so the movement does not come apart on you, just remove one hex nut, put the bracket on, and then put the hex nut back on. Then do the rest the same way, one at a time. You would need to create a wood mount that will support the movement but at the same time not get into the way of the pendulum assembly at all.

Bottom Mount
The bottom mounting method is good only for side or back hammer units. If mounting this movement series from the bottom you would need to create what is known as a seat board. This is only two parallel boards that are 1x1 inch approximately that are running side to side in the clock case with about ½ inch between the two. This allows the front and back plates of the movement to each sit on a board and then be able to mount the movement with the enclosed seat board screws. The screw gets put into the rectangle washer first, and then it goes up from the bottom between the two parallel boards and into the threaded hole in the movement bottom pillars. This mounting style is only practical with a side hammer or back hammer unit as the bottom hammers would be in the way and the movement would not mount to the seat board.

3. Mount the Dial
The dial on this kit is a simple white round dial with gold trim and Arabic numerals. The dial is predrilled for the movements winding arbor configuration so you can wind the clock with the key. The dial can be either attached to a thin board via drilling holes and putting some brass finishing nails to the board, or you can use the enclosed plastic mounting bracket. The dial gets attached to the bracket via small nails on the side of the dials gold trim. The dial feet have holes in them so you can put a tapered pin into the feet hole and therefore lock the dial into the front of the movement. The dials positioning should be as such to have the center hand shaft hole aligned with the hand shaft itself, as well as the winding posts with there dial holes also.

4. Install the Hands
After the dial is mounted it’s time to put the hands on the clock. First comes the hour hand that is installed only in a friction fit. You put the hour hand on and twist and push down toward the dial at the same time. The more down the hour hand is toward the dial, the tighter fit it is as the hour hand post is tapered. You want it on fairly snug but not touching the dial or the minute hand that comes next. The hour hand, the dial, the minute hand should all be parallel with each other and not hitting each other during any part of their rotations.

Hands for these modern German units are designed with a rotatable center mount in the minute hand. You need to know this as when you set up the clock at first it will not strike exactly on the hour or quarters like it should. To correct this issue it is only needed to take the minute hand off and use needle nose pliers to spin the center mounting bushing independent of the hand itself. You hold the minute hand in one hand, the needle nose pliers in the other while grabbing and spinning this center hand bushing. What this does is align that square hole in the way you need it to mount so the hand is pointing to the correct time when it chimes.

5. Install the Pendulum
The pendulum assembly consists of three components and the Germans measure all of them in one measurement. The measurement is stamped on the back plate of the movement itself in CM. The three components are the suspension spring on the very top, the leader it hangs on, and then the pendulum length all the way down to the very bottom of the pendulum rating nut threads.

When you get the movement the suspension spring will be installed but not always the leader that hangs on it. This you would put on as follows: Take the set screw out of the suspension post as to release this suspension spring and then lower it with your fingers. When the spring is lowered you are able to hook on the leader hook top, and you at the same time need that leader engaged with the crutch that swings back and forth on the back of the movement. So in other words, you will have the leader in the center of the crutch that swings it, as you hook the top to the suspension. With the leader attached to the suspension you can then bring the two part assembly up and back home into its suspension post and put in the set screw again. Now the movement is ready for casing and to be aligned with the chime block as described above. After the movement is cased and ready to go, you just hang the pendulum onto the bottom of the leader and put it in beat.

Please note !
Every pendulum clock needs to be put into beat to operate, if the clock is not put into beat it will run for 5 minutes to 12 hours and then stop every time. In many cases the complaint with a mechanical clock is that it stopped working after it was moved. This is usually from someone moving the clock without taking the pendulum off and this puts the clock out of beat. Out of beat is a term used in clock repair that basically means the clock is going tock-tick tock-tick instead of tick- tock- tick -tock. It is sometimes corrected by putting a matchbook or small piece of wood under one side of the clock case to make the tick and the tock evenly spaced. This can temporarily correct the problem and the clock runs fine. This method however is not as good as correcting the beat and having the clock run when it is truly straight and level.

You would adjust the beat by pushing the top of the pendulum left or right as it hangs in its clock case, just hold a lower portion of the pendulum with your left hand as you push the top of the pendulum left or right with your right hand. You will feel the freedom in the pendulum to move left or right, with some resistance at the sides at the end of your left or right travel. You are changing the beat of the clock when you go beyond this resistance and therefore changing the place of the freedom area. Don’t be afraid to move this pendulum top as there is nothing to break as you go left or right.

The pendulum is responsible for all the timekeeping of the movement. There is a rating nut on the bottom of the pendulum, this gets turned to get the time perfect. Timing a clock takes some time and patience to get perfect as you have to adjust it a few times to get it right. When turning this nut you are either raising or lowing the pendulums round bob at the bottom, and this positioning is what speeds or slows time. If you turn the nut to the right as to raise the bob, time will go faster, the opposite way to slow it down. The pendulum assembly consists of three components and the Germans measure all of them in one measurement. The measurement is stamped on the back plate of the movement itself in CM. The three components are the suspension spring on the very top, the leader it hangs on, and then the pendulum length all the way down to the very bottom of the pendulum rating nut threads.