If you google "clock oil" you will find several. Cousins, Meadows and Passmore (closed at the moment apparently) John Wardle clocks

Some time ago when people still used mechanical clocks a repairer told me he loved '3in1' oil. Not because he used it for clocks but other people did so then a little later he got the job of cleaning it and oiling it properly. Modern equivalent is probably WD40, again do not use on clocks.

I use silicone oil. The type used in vacuum diffusion pumps. It has a very low vapour pressure and this means that it lasts a long time after application.. It also doesn't oxidise readily, so it doesn't degenerate like a normal oil.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 31/10/2022 20:35:43

Depends on the clock. A carriage clock will need watch oils on the platform. A French clock possibly likewise. Long case will need something heavier. Suppliers like Cousins, Walsh, Meadow & Passmore or A G Thomas

.

Very likely …

**LINK**

https://www.koga.com/en/about-koga/history

… and probably none-the-worse for that.

MichaelG.

Don't use anchor oil. It goes gummy in less than 25 years!

The Moebius clock oil recommended by Fowlers Fury works out at £1,200 per litre when purchased in 20 ml bottle from Amazon, certainly a tad more expensive than 3in1 oil, expensive hobby clocks. Dave W

you don't have a Ferrari and put Duckams 20/50 in it why would you use inferior oil on something that's taken a good portion of your leisure time making

£1200/litre, similar price to printer ink. Sounds like a similar rip off as well. It would be interesting to know what's in it that makes it so expensive. Mermaids tears?

well that's really helpful. It just says 100% synthetic. I can get synthetic oil for my car at £40/gallon. I do realise that it wouldn't be much use in a clock. I suspect the clock oil is priced at what people will pay rather than what it costs

Adding additional support, particularly in relation to Fowlers Fury posts, as a ‘One-Clock-Expert’ I deliberately let rip with a spray can of stuff not only on my ‘one and only’ (unfinished) timepiece but that of the mechanism of a commercial longcase clock belonging to a late friend. It had stopped working so it obviously needed spraying according to the many claims of said stuff.

That was at least thirty years ago long before I knew better.

Stepping back even further … well you can read the paragraph for yourselves taken from a seven part article I wrote for Model Engineer…………

Building John Stevens’ Skeleton Clock – Part 1 – #4526 – 22 Jan 2016

By about 1976, and because of a couple of technical setbacks, none the least being the balance spring, I shelved the project, literally. There it stood slowly gathering dust, rust, and some sort of hard, brown tarnish. A liberal dose of a well-known water-repellent spray seemed to have helped in developing this hard coating. It covered every piece of brass. Protection of the steel parts (especially the arbours) was also lacking. These latter issues only became obvious years later, when I was eventually encouraged to finish the clock and began to pull it apart.

When I finally finished the clock, I received a gift from an extremely generous clockmaker.

About 2ml each of three grades of clock oil. Enough to last centuries. So maybe you can find someone similarly generous?

Sam

Almost brass monkey weather here in Melbourne