Replaced Wakmann 8 day clock

Leo O'Farrell

Leo O'Farrell

Pre-Flight
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Jun 25, 2011
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Lakeport, CA
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Leo O'Farrell
This may seem insignificant, but my Wakmann 8 day clock was stopping more and more, and it bothered my in flight. I was like a caricature of a pilot tapping then pounding on an instrument to get it to work.

Then going to jeweler after jeweler to find they couldn't open it or fix. A watch obsessed friend checked eBay and for the price of a couple of fillups of Avgas got an original but serviced and working 8days replacement that I installed yesterday.

Along the way others suggested new electric clocks, etc. however there is something good about the winding and the movement of this classic timepiece.

Turns out the innards are Swiss from the company that makes the expensive Brietling watches.
 

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Leo O'Farrell said:
This may seem insignificant, but my Wakmann 8 day clock was stopping more and more, and it bothered my in flight. I was like a caricature of a pilot tapping then pounding on an instrument to get it to work.

Then going to jeweler after jeweler to find they couldn't open it or fix. A watch obsessed friend checked eBay and for the price of a couple of fillups of Avgas got an original but serviced and working 8days replacement that I installed yesterday.

Along the way others suggested new electric clocks, etc. however there is something good about the winding and the movement of this classic timepiece.

Turns out the innards are Swiss from the company that makes the expensive Brietling watches.
Click to expand...
Not too many hometown jewelers left that're qualified to fix mechanical watch/clock movements these days. Did you check with the Brietling company? I'll bet they'd fix it but it wouldn't be cheap :D My old Heuer IFR timer need repair last year, only place that would do the work was Tag Heuer at their factory in Switzerland. Got it back a few months later good as new, cost about $500.
 
I took my 1960s era wakmann into the shop that repaired it 10 years ago. Most of the guts can be ordered from Switzerland but not the cog wheels. Not cost effective or even practical maybe even not possible, to hand-make the cog wheels so I now have an electric clock in the cherokee and a great converstion piece for a paperweight on my desk.

I really liked that wind up clock. But the electric clock was less than half the ebay route, even with installation.
 
I have the groovy digital, fits-in-the-yoke-like-it-grew-there clock/timer, but I admit it would be nice to have a real clock in the panel, because... well, who says I have to have a reason?

Maybe, someday, I will do that...
 
I had mine rebuilt by "the clock doc" (my name for him) at Jacobs instrument repair in Wichita at least six years ago. It's run flawlessly since.

I think it was about $175...sure I could've bought a digital for that money but I love the nostalgia of the Wakmann...and, yes, they were made by Brietling.

Besides, the 8 day Wakmann gives me a very important bit of information a digital never can...

...if it's not running when I preflight the airplane, then it's been too freaking long since I last flew!

:D
 
timwinters said:
Besides, the 8 day Wakmann gives me a very important bit of information a digital never can...

...if it's not running when I preflight the airplane, then it's been too freaking long since I last flew!

:D
Click to expand...

If the engine is at ambient temperature when you preflight, it's been too long since you last flew!
 
You might try contacting Miller Clock Service & Sales in Oshkosh. They exhibited at the show last year, and I sent them a rare Wittnauer chronograph for checkout/repair and hope they can revive it. www.millerclockservices.com

I too love the old mechanical clocks, but my plane came with a Davtron 811b in the panel.
 
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