Seth Thomas / Armiger Sonora Chime No. 16, circa 1913

This Sonora Chime clock was acquired at an estate auction on Nov. 19, 2012. The dial is engraved "Jas. R. Armiger Co.". The time-strike movement is a Seth Thomas No. 89N and the Sonora chime movement is a No. 90A. I believe these clocks were made by Seth Thomas for James R. Armiger Co., Baltimore, MD. It appears to be the same as a Seth Thomas Sonora Chime No. 16 with a nest of 4 bells in a resonator box that are struck using 5 hammers. It actually sounds like five bells because the chime hammers are leather tipped and the strike hammer, which shares a bell with the chime unit, has a hard tip and the sound is very distinctively different. It has quite a lovely sound. I have no idea how many of these were made bearing the James R. Armiger Co. name but these are surely less common than the ones made bearing the Seth Thomas name.

This clock is somewhat unusual among chime clocks in that it has a time & strike movement that is completely separate from the chime movement. (In "clock speak" striking is the sounding of the hour on the hour and chiming is playing several notes on each quarter.) The time & strike movement activates the Sonora Chime movement once every 15 minutes. Following the fourth chime sequence the Sonora Chime movement moves a lever that causes the time & strike movement to strike the hour count. The time & strike movement is a count wheel type movement, and the Sonora Chime movement also has its own count wheel to count the quarter hours. The Sonora Chime movement does not have a self-correcting mechanism which is common on most newer chime clocks, and of course the count wheel time & strike movement can get out of step with the time of day if the clock is allowed to run completely down. Fortunately the chime and strike activation levers are easily accessible when the back door is open. Getting the time, strike, and chime all in sync is a multi-step process, but once it is set it works beautifully as long as one keeps the clock wound and running, or stops it before going away longer than 8 days.

I believe this clock is all original and appears to be un-messed with. As purchased it was pretty dirty, one of the turned brass bushings in the dial for the winding key was missing, and the case had a few scuff marks but the original lightly crazed finish was retained. Both movements have been disassembled and cleaned including the large Sonora chime spring. Six bushings were installed in the time & strike movement. The S3 lantern pinion was rebuilt (had a loose cap). Time and strike great wheel click rivets were replaced. The Sonora Chime movement required no bushings. The lacquering on the movement plates has some blemishes but the I opted to just clean the plates and not relacquer them. The brass bezel was polished, the silvered dial left as is, and a new brass bushing was turned to replace the missing one in the dial. The new bushing was secured with a spring wire hairpin retainer. The case was lightly rubbed with 0000 steel wool, polished and waxed. The beauty of the original finish is evident, although the fine crazing gives it a softer appearance.

At 18 inches tall and with a dial that is almost 9 inches across and weighing in at 17.8 pounds this is one impressive mantel clock. Restoration was completed in February 2013. It is a good running clock with a beautiful sound. I would appreciate hearing form anyone who might have any additional information about this clock and how many may have been made by Seth Thomas for James R. Armiger Co.
I found the following information on-line:

The name “Sonora” comes from the Sonora Chime Company. William Hoschke of New York, New York applied for his patent on this design on April 16, 1907, and the patent was granted on April 18, 1908. Hoschke apparently had a background with music box engineering that he utilized in his design of the Sonora configuration. Seth Thomas purchased the rights to Hoschke's bell chime mechanism and resonators patent around 1912, changed the movements to suit their own manufacturing techniques, cut the price substantially, and successfully marketed a full line of “Sonora” clocks with numerous models and configurations.

The unique, rich, resonant sound of Sonora bell chimes comes from the wooden expansive sound chamber in which the cup bells are mounted. They are struck with leather-tipped hammers. These movements were made with as many as eight bells playing two different tunes, some even alternating between tunes each hour!

James R. Armiger / James R. Armiger Co. Baltimore, MD 1892-1936 Founded by James R. Armiger as a successor to Justis & Armiger. Armiger died in a house fire in 1896. The business was incorporated that same year and the name was changed to the James R. Armiger Co.

The information on this page is believed to the writer to be correct at the date of posting but is presented with no guarantee expressed or implied. Pictures were a true representation of this clock at the time of posting but may not be current. Please contact me if you believe that any of the above information is incorrect, or if you wish to share additional information, or discuss this clock.

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