This was a kit. At least the cabinet was a kit; the works were ready to go. The kit form does it make it nce because I've broken this down a couple times to move it in pieces, rather than as a whole unit. The bad part is that being a kit, the sections can get loose and the whole thing wobbly if you're not careful.

This one has decorative, non-working weights; it has a 31-day, right-hand strike and time wind. Keeps good time but needs a lot of regulation.

I always thought this would benefit from a few little things to dress it up, like a fake keyhole on the regulator door, but haven't done anything about it yet.

I got careless winding it one day and futzed up the winder. I thought the spring was broken, but the spring that holds the winder catch (for lack of the proper term) had been knocked off. Once I put that back on, it wound up and ran.

Of course running on a stand in the garage and running in the cabinet in the house are two different things. It's a huge pain to get the movement mounted and this thing reassembled—it's very top-heavy and just not designed for maintenance. I can't get into beat and so far I haven't figured out why. Right now I'm thinking about cutting a big access window into the back behind the movement, which would be pushed up against the wall so you wouldn't see it. In the meantime, this one is not running.

Acquired: February 2005, a gift from my parents

Current condition: not running, not sure why.