WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

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River Rat
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WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:24 pm

Just got this delivered today. A WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock. It has an eight-day movement made in 1916. Was thinking of sending to Chelsea for a service and redo of the case and resilver the dial and re-bluing the hands. They wanted 1000 bucks. But the case looks like a cool old pair of aged Levi jeans. Think I will see if my watchmaker in Bozeman will just service it put in a new mainspring and leave the aged look.
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Photo below is before I used soap and water to clean up the case and it turned out cool, I think.
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:34 pm

The US Navy always have to know the time.
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rockmastermike
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by rockmastermike » Fri Sep 08, 2023 7:11 pm

dang, Mike - that's incredible

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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by matt.wu » Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:34 am

Looks awesome, Mike. Definitely don’t redo dial or hands. It’s perfect as is!
:htfu:

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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by Joeprez » Sun Sep 10, 2023 7:30 am

Agree, looks great as is. Even mu wife liked it (and she doesn’t care about watches at all).


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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Sun Sep 10, 2023 9:05 am

Going to drop it off Monday and see if the local guy can handle it. He did service another Chelsea Naval deck clock about the same age but all that one needed was a mainspring and service no other parts. If this only needs a service and mainspring, he can handle it. But if it needs more parts they might be hard to get. And will have to send it off to someone out of state. There is a guy in Florida who works on them use to work for Chelsea halve the price to service the movement than Chelsea and Chelsea charges as much as Rolex to service a movement like 600 bucks. When I opened it up to check out the movement it was like a time capsule the movement looked like it was never service like it came out of the factory the inside of the case the brass was like it was when it left the factory, I thought someone spray painted it gold nothing like the aged look on the outside.

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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Mon Oct 09, 2023 12:13 pm

Well, the clock ready for pick up also pick up also the Technos skydiver the crystal started to crack again along the edge. I had an extra Plexi crystal hopefully I have better luck on this one makes the third or fourth crystal. Did ask the watchmaker to look for a sharp edge on the case that might be causing this. Will pick them up tomorrow.

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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Tue Oct 10, 2023 1:31 pm

Well back and running and on the wall.
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by DoctorC » Tue Oct 10, 2023 2:09 pm

That looks AMAZING Mike.
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Wed Oct 11, 2023 12:25 pm

Just bought this online. Will put it on the wooded plaque under the clock a cool touch. Would have liked to find a Pilot House one but Wheelhouse about the same. Spent a lot of my active-duty time in the wheel house on watch. we had a lot of names for this the Bridge, Pilot House or Wheel House.
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Wed Oct 11, 2023 1:17 pm

Here is one I wish was mine but it's in a Navy Museum. But the US Navy Observatory serial numbers are close mine seems older but in better shape. Wonder since the numbers are so close they came from the same ship.
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https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... CLOCK%20CO.
Link to the Navy Museum. Definitely not a chronometer I guess we could teach the museum a little. Glad someone was smart enough to save the clock before the ship was used for target practice with a nuke.

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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by mattcantwin » Wed Oct 11, 2023 1:34 pm

matt.wu wrote:
Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:34 am
Looks awesome, Mike. Definitely don’t redo dial or hands. It’s perfect as is!
Agreed :thumbsup:
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by River Rat » Sun Nov 19, 2023 9:06 am

Here is something interesting I found in a new book I just got on Chelsea clocks. My deck clock no 3 was in the first batch sold to the US Navy serial number 14572B the b for Boston Clock Co same company as Chelsea just Chelsea went through a few name changes. Mine was the 18 of this model sold to the US Navy. looks like 3 batches were sold to the US Navy with 2 different style numbers and white and black dials. One thing you can't do with modern timepieces is look for the history of them one thing I enjoy doing with vintage.
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And a photo of this clock with a brass plaque I put on the wooden plaque.
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by 93 Turbo » Sun Nov 19, 2023 1:27 pm

Mike, you have the coolest stuff mate. J
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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by Captdave » Sun Nov 19, 2023 1:41 pm

That’s very cool !! You have a great collection of ships clocks.


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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by Captdave » Sun Nov 19, 2023 1:42 pm

River Rat wrote:Here is something interesting I found in a new book I just got on Chelsea clocks. My deck clock no 3 was in the first batch sold to the US Navy serial number 14572B the b for Boston Clock Co same company as Chelsea just Chelsea went through a few name changes. Mine was the 18 of this model sold to the US Navy. looks like 3 batches were sold to the US Navy with 2 different style numbers and white and black dials. One thing you can't do with modern timepieces is look for the history of them one thing I enjoy doing with vintage.
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And a photo of this clock with a brass plaque I put on the wooden plaque.
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That’s perfect Image dibs


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Re: WW1 era Chelsea US Navy No.3 Deck Clock

Post by FiveFathomsDeep » Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:50 am

Wow! That’s an amazing piece. Jealous.

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