{"id":547,"date":"2024-11-23T17:32:50","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T17:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/?p=547"},"modified":"2024-11-24T01:36:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T01:36:18","slug":"chelsea-u-s-army-clock-message-center-m1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/23\/chelsea-u-s-army-clock-message-center-m1\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea U.S. Army Clock Message Center, M1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I have never seen or heard of this sort of thing, besides the Skillcraft government clocks that you find in almost every government installation, a clock purpose built for army use. The Chelsea clock company is still in business but this particular example was made in the 40s sometime before brass was limited as a strategic material and Chelsea converted to a Bakelite type of case. Chelsea made a large number of clocks for Navy use and some for army message centers where logging times of message traffic is important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before futzing around with this clock, as I did find these are fairly rare, I decided to take it to a professional and found that KC Clock in Overland Park, KS ( Kansas City Watches and Watch Repair – KC Watch | Overland Park, Kansas<\/a> ) has someone familiar with the Chelseas. He stated it was in good shape internally and to leave it be as it is. I would have polished the brass, but apparently there is a coating on this that would be damaged if I had done that. I also would have been tempted to repaint the illuminated spots on the face, but KC Clock discouraged that as well to preserve its original state and I will take their advice. If I do need it worked on, I will definitely take it to KC Watch as they were very helpful and willing to share their knowledge on this clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This clock is completely mechanical, powered by an internal spring wound with a key seen to the right using the shaft on the numeral 6. Time is set with a dial on the left side. I wound it a few turns and was very surprised to find it lasted at least a week and held time the entire cycle. Ill have to wind it fully and see what its endurance is, but I suspect quite awhile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will have to build the wooden carrying case that it would have been issued with, but it will be a neat addition to my overall communications shelter setup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have never seen or heard of this sort of thing, besides the Skillcraft government clocks that you find in almost every government installation, a clock purpose built for army use. The Chelsea clock company is still in business but this particular example was made in the 40s sometime before brass was limited as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":550,"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions\/550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stickelman.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}