UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Nickthedentist · 15th May 2019, 7:58 am

Hello and welcome.

Yes, it's almost certainly from the 1950s, and uses the robust and very popular Smiths "Bijou" movement.

With a bit of TLC, these will run for decades, silently telling the time accurately with no fuss. I have about a dozen of them on the go in our house, and would be lost without them.

Safety wise, they'll never be up to modern standards, but I have no qualms about running them at home. I endeavour to stop my children from messing around with them though. As a bare minimum, replace the mains cable, fit a 3A fuse (preferably 1A), and make sure you power it from a socket which is supplied via the RCD in your consumer unit (fuse box). It would be wise to fit a 3-core cable and earth the movement too, but to do this, you need to get some thin mains cable; search for 2183Y, 0.5mm2 on eBay or wherever.

Fitting a quartz movement could be done, but the originality and charm of the clock would be instantly gone IMHO.

Nick.

15th May 2019, 7:58 am	#4
Nickthedentist Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Oxford, UK. Posts: 17,865	Re: Smiths Electric Clock Hello and welcome. Yes, it's almost certainly from the 1950s, and uses the robust and very popular Smiths "Bijou" movement. With a bit of TLC, these will run for decades, silently telling the time accurately with no fuss. I have about a dozen of them on the go in our house, and would be lost without them. Safety wise, they'll never be up to modern standards, but I have no qualms about running them at home. I endeavour to stop my children from messing around with them though. As a bare minimum, replace the mains cable, fit a 3A fuse (preferably 1A), and make sure you power it from a socket which is supplied via the RCD in your consumer unit (fuse box). It would be wise to fit a 3-core cable and earth the movement too, but to do this, you need to get some thin mains cable; search for 2183Y, 0.5mm2 on eBay or wherever. Fitting a quartz movement could be done, but the originality and charm of the clock would be instantly gone IMHO. Nick.