So the clock on the car did not work, knowing from my previous car I said, arghh need to get a new battery for it
Well I was in for a shock Jaguar parts local seller on line price $38 plus GST oh that's a bit steep, so a search on the net got me about 12 odd for about $18 plus $5 odd for shipping, they arrived a couple weeks ago
Replaced the battery expecting the clock to function unfortunately it did not do its job
So out it comes off the panel, a closer inspection revealed a rather corroded spade connector, weirdly it is a positive earthed on the captive battery side a wire with the negative side of the battery connects to the spade connector that disappears down the guts of it, it has a nylon insert insulating it
The spade connector just crumbled from corrosion
Now what? well I decided to investigate, so small blade screwdriver miniature bend long nose pliers and off comes the bezel by carefully bending over the tabs holding the glass on the clock body
Two very small watch type slotted screws at the rear hold the mechanism on the body which were removed allowing the withdrawal of the mechanism out
Well I was surprised, that spade connector its about 1-1/4 " long going all the way down than soldered to a point it was so corroded that with just a gentle tag it just fell off
Ok no big deal I can deal with that
So a piece of insulated wire was soldered on that terminal point, the nylon insulator on the body was removed, the new wire was fed through the hole and out the back
Well so far so good, after cleaning the glass and bezel the hard as nail rubber gasket between the glass and clock body fell to bits had to be scrapped off, plus some other fine debris in the body as well the reassembly process started easy enough with one issue No rubber gasket
Into the collection of O rings and after a few minutes scratching around a suitable O ring was found that went into the bezel perfectly
The bezel was reattached tabs folded over and a new battery installed a couple of shakes and the clock started up ticking away, Great result ah not so fast
The first day after it got going on my bench it stopped twice, it was started again with a gentle twist second day it stopped once restarted it and it has not stopped at all since than so I decided to check it's accuracy
The first 24 hours after a steady run it gained about 6 minutes adjusting it with the small slotted stub reduced its gain but it was lagging by about 2 minutes in 24 hours
Well, further finer adjustment solved it, for almost a week now it is has gained about 1.5 minute, based on my Iphone which amazed me, good enough id say ticking away for over a week now
For an electro-mechanical clock over 50 years old to keep such a good time its quite amazing, what I find weird is that instead of Smiths using a brass spade male connector in its construction, they opted for one made out steel I don't get it Its not a major cost saving item so why?
The wondering will never stop with these cars
Best
