Anyone know where I might find one of these?
Or happen to have one spare that isn't open circuit?

Usual UK site draws a blank, apparently when Smiths UK stopped making clocks in 1979 it all went to landfill.

Ian, I have had some success in rewinding the coil to run on a much lower voltage and wrote an article in HRSA Radio Waves in 2013-14. It was the Jan 2014 issue if you have it, but I can email the article to you if you wish.
Harold

Hi Harold.

Looks like great minds think alike (or is it the corollary about fools?)

Here is what I just emailed to the owner of the radio:

"
Well, that wire is very fine and difficult to handle, esp. for a 240 volt winding. I'm also concerned that the bobbin has melted and is no longer safe for double insulation, if it ever was.


An idea to get around both problems:


Rewind it with 0.26mm wire. That will result in about 5% of the number of turns, so we run it from 12 volts AC. There is room for a suitable transformer near the tuning gang. Not authentic, but safe and it should work just as well.

"

Good to know it worked as I thought it might!

What wire, what voltage did you use?

I used 0.375mm wire, simply because I had it on hand. I used a Dick Smith multi voltage transformer at 7.5V tap, the actual voltage with the small load was probably 8.5 to 9 V.
At a lower voltage, it won't start and with a higher voltage, it buzzes and locks in one position, so there is a need for some fiddling.
Harold

This clock is another motor rewind that was very successful. The mechanism is more basic than the Smiths, but exactly the same principle.
It needs 12V to run reliably using a standard plug pack.
Harold

I restored one of these a few years back. The coil was open circuit on mine as well. I unwound about a dozen turns and found the break. It runs fine, but I wouldn't have it as a 'daily'

I have another set in a different colour to do one day, but I did pick up a clock mech off ebay some time back

The 12v mod sounds interesting.

Ben

I am not sure if this applies to Smiths motors or not but a lot of synchronous motors have a mechanism on them that stops them spinning in a particular direction. When the motor tries to spin, say, anti-clockwise, this mechanism will obstruct the shaft and cause the motor to start spinning in the correct direction.

Photo uploaded to Post 6.

Thanks Brad.
The clock motor is very simple, with the rotor shaft extended out the back with a "spin to start" label. It won't start by itself and this makes sure the direction is correct.
Harold

I may have to move house again to find it; Or evict someone else's furniture from the shed, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there is an entire radio with one in it here that came from an estate & was dumped here.

I am sending to photos to Brad: Its AWA & it is Smith's.

Photos uploaded to Post 12.

Those photos are so familiar - I have quite a few radios with that exact clock, and every one of them (the clock) is not working.

Either the motor simply won't turn any more, or the gears have been chewed out.

Be careful of the poisonous radiation from the clock hands - they are supposed to glow in the dark by using radium, but by now they will be dark, but still emitting radiation.

Radiation can be handy: I note that surviving radios with rubber wire, tend to have the best preserved rubber in the RF section. Some valves are actually radio active, as opposed to it being in an active radio.

I think if one was paranoid about radiation & EMR, they would have no electricity, not be working on receivers & transmitters, or have a mobile phone.