Added another WW1 US Navy Chelsea pilot House

[River Rat 1]

Just got this today. It's the smaller brother of two other Pilot house clock I have in the collection. The larger ones have a 8-inch dial this one's a 6-inch dial with a screw off bezel not hinged bezel. Has the same style dial with the large second bit and model F movement and very heavy. Have it on the wall with other WW1 veterans.

[River Rat 1]

Well had this serviced but had to take it back the clockmaker to adjust the fast and slow adjustment was lose. I had to look at the movement to figure what was wrong. Doing that I notice something scratched inside the case engine room so this was in the engine room not the pilot house how wonder the dial a little dirty the heat and smoke down in the engine room did to the dial. The snipes that worked in the engine room on my last ship the USS Mauna Kea AE-22 painted the boiler to look like a Budweiser can.

[River Rat 1]

For anyone who collects Chelsea Naval clock you can order a certificate of origin from Chelsea for the beginning history from the Chelsea Factory to the Navy. On the older ones I think it's worth the price. This one came with the clock when I bought it. I have ordered a few for a few others I owned. It's like a birth certificate of your clock.

[River Rat 1]

The movement was in great shape.

[Josh B.]

My grandfather was a clock and watchmaker who serviced these for the submarine base in New London many years ago.  He commented on how overbuilt the movements are.  The big problem with these arises when they aren't serviced for a long time; the extremely strong spring will drive the clock mechanism no matter how dirty or dry the movement is.  The grit then wears  pivot points in the brass plates oblong, leading to irreparable wear requiring re-bushing or complete overhaul with new plates.  Lots of these clocks were shown zero love after their regular overhaul periods in the service were over, especially if they found their way into the merchant fleet.

 

Btw, I have several chelsea and seth thomas maritime clocks- can I ask where you source your mounting plaques?  I want to hang some but as you know they are quite heavy and want to put them on wood plates so I can keyhole mount them flush to the wall.

 

Cheers,

Josh

[River Rat 1]

I get them at Micheal's arts and craft there a chain store. Thier bare wood I will sand them and varnish them and put mounting stuff on the backs of the plaques. There are mounting kits the kits I pick depends on weight of clock and the wall hanging hooks. Never use a lightweight hook or it might not hold the clock. My pilot house clocks are extremely heavy. If you want, I can post a back photo of the clock plaque to see how I do it. On the heavy brass clocks, the hook goes into a stud in the wall.

[River Rat 1]

To hang real heavy clocks. I use a stud finder to find the wooden stud in the wall. I use a 75-pound hook. Use heavy duty picture frame wire with heavy rated connecting hardware to secure the wire to the plaque. See photos hope this helps. You don't want to use just dry wall to put the hooks in on heavy clocks it will just rip off the wall. Light smaller bakelite case clocks you can but not the heavy brass pilot house size clocks nothing worse than one hitting the floor. In the stud for the hook. Some hanging kits come with pads you can put on the back of the plaque, so it doesn't slide around and don't scratch the paint on the wall. You can see I doubled up the wire on this one.

[aerialbridge]

On 12/9/2024 at 6:20 PM, Josh B. said:

My grandfather was a clock and watchmaker who serviced these for the submarine base in New London many years ago.  He commented on how overbuilt the movements are.  The big problem with these arises when they aren't serviced for a long time; the extremely strong spring will drive the clock mechanism no matter how dirty or dry the movement is.  The grit then wears  pivot points in the brass plates oblong, leading to irreparable wear requiring re-bushing or complete overhaul with new plates.  Lots of these clocks were shown zero love after their regular overhaul periods in the service were over, especially if they found their way into the merchant fleet.

 

Btw, I have several chelsea and seth thomas maritime clocks- can I ask where you source your mounting plaques?  I want to hang some but as you know they are quite heavy and want to put them on wood plates so I can keyhole mount them flush to the wall.

 

Cheers,

Josh

 

Nice addition to your WWI  Chelsea Navy clock collection.  I shared this thread with my brother by another mother,  who's a master clockmaker.   We both have  WWII era USN (or Maritime Commission) Chelsea and Seth Thomas (ST)  "clock walls".    He had this comment, 

 

"That's a very nice thread you sent me about the ship clocks. The person had a very legitimate point about the post war maintenance of them as well as the chronometers. When they were in service, the Bureau of Ships had a strict maintenance schedule. I believe it was every 2 years like it or not. There were no "bushings" installed because if it was required for whatever reason, you replace the whole gear and arbor as well as the plate(s). The mainspring was also replaced every time regardless. I can see how people would not follow these stringent guidelines since the clock would be out of commission for a little while since they have no access to the professional clock and watchmakers that the Navy employed. 

 

The only thing I would disagree with is the ships clocks do not have heavy duty springs. As you know the mainspring thickness is right around 11-12/1,000 of an inch thick which is a pretty lightweight spring in the clock world. Not to mention they do stop running when they're dirty or dry-- especially the escapement. Even then, It's pretty rare that a ships clock (WW2 era Chelseas and ST's) ever need bushings. (kinda like the Viennas) It's almost an anomaly when they do and it takes a lot of abuse for that to even be required. Hence the movements being "overbuilt" They had thick, hardened brass movement plates for a reason, not for good looks. If you combine thick, hardened brass plates with a lightweight spring, you're pretty much guaranteed a clock that will run for generations when maintained properly.

 

That's why the cheaper, mass produced, affordable antique mantle clocks would come in for service and need springs, and about 20 bushings. Reason being cheap thin brass plates and overpowered mainsprings in the 18/1,000" thickness range."

 

The ST Mark 1 Deck and Boat clocks from about 1939 on and during WW2 indicate the manufacturing year on the dial.   But as mentioned,  the back plate which is also dated with month/year will often be a year or two later due to being overhauled under the Navy's rigid maintenance standards.  I did pick up a Chelsea Certificate of Origin for one of mine,  a large, 8.5" inch, 24 hour dial in Phenolic case,  that I knew based on it's serial number was dated close to Pearl Harbor, give or take.    Turns out it was a couple months after, but a cool delivery date to the Navy,  the day of the infamous Battle of Los Angeles,  2/24/42.  Pictured below,  my buddy's workbench with some of his Chelsea's and Seth Thomas's and the 1942 "large" Chelsea.  

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles

 

 

 

[Josh B.]

11 hours ago, aerialbridge said:

 

Nice addition to your WWI  Chelsea Navy clock collection.  I shared this thread with my brother by another mother,  who's a master clockmaker.   We both have  WWII era USN (or Maritime Commission) Chelsea and Seth Thomas (ST)  "clock walls".    He had this comment, 

 

"That's a very nice thread you sent me about the ship clocks. The person had a very legitimate point about the post war maintenance of them as well as the chronometers. When they were in service, the Bureau of Ships had a strict maintenance schedule. I believe it was every 2 years like it or not. There were no "bushings" installed because if it was required for whatever reason, you replace the whole gear and arbor as well as the plate(s). The mainspring was also replaced every time regardless. I can see how people would not follow these stringent guidelines since the clock would be out of commission for a little while since they have no access to the professional clock and watchmakers that the Navy employed. 

 

The only thing I would disagree with is the ships clocks do not have heavy duty springs. As you know the mainspring thickness is right around 11-12/1,000 of an inch thick which is a pretty lightweight spring in the clock world. Not to mention they do stop running when they're dirty or dry-- especially the escapement. Even then, It's pretty rare that a ships clock (WW2 era Chelseas and ST's) ever need bushings. (kinda like the Viennas) It's almost an anomaly when they do and it takes a lot of abuse for that to even be required. Hence the movements being "overbuilt" They had thick, hardened brass movement plates for a reason, not for good looks. If you combine thick, hardened brass plates with a lightweight spring, you're pretty much guaranteed a clock that will run for generations when maintained properly.

 

That's why the cheaper, mass produced, affordable antique mantle clocks would come in for service and need springs, and about 20 bushings. Reason being cheap thin brass plates and overpowered mainsprings in the 18/1,000" thickness range."

 

The ST Mark 1 Deck and Boat clocks from about 1939 on and during WW2 indicate the manufacturing year on the dial.   But as mentioned,  the back plate which is also dated with month/year will often be a year or two later due to being overhauled under the Navy's rigid maintenance standards.  I did pick up a Chelsea Certificate of Origin for one of mine,  a large, 8.5" inch, 24 hour dial in Phenolic case,  that I knew based on it's serial number was dated close to Pearl Harbor, give or take.    Turns out it was a couple months after, but a cool delivery date to the Navy,  the day of the infamous Battle of Los Angeles,  2/24/42.  Pictured below,  my buddy's workbench with some of his Chelsea's and Seth Thomas's and the 1942 "large" Chelsea.  

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles

 

 

 

 

Interesting perspective.  My grandfather has been gone for several years now and so can only now draw from memory.  I'm guessing he did see some fairly abused stuff over the years. He stayed in the trade long after the navy shut down the repair facility at SUBBASE NLON and he continued to service military and standard clock and watch movements from early federal to mid 20th century.

He was a stickler for mechanical integrity, loved high jewel watch movements for their durability and accuracy, and had strong opinions about clock movement cleanliness and lubrication so as to never lose tolerances.. for as long as possible.    He was one of about a dozen people in the US who could manufacture an entire clock movement from sheet brass and for awhile he made a good living cutting custom clock wheels for out of production models where parts could no longer be found. 

To my mind the story on the clock springs was to to drive home these should not be run without regular servicing unless you wanted to ruin them.And that they were engineered for durability at sea under trying conditions that most clocks could not withstand, and they weren't easy to stop with reasonable mechanical shock. 

 

Two more stories that might interest you, since my memory will probably only get worse and not better with time:

 

1- I asked him about matching chelsea movement serial numbers to case serial numbers at one point.  His answer was, "Why bother caring about that, and I'm not sure you should"  When he serviced these for the navy he received them "by the bushel basket".  He'd line ~10 up at a time, pull the movements out, remove the escapements and mainsprings, soak and lubricate as needed, reassemble, check timing, etc.  He distinctly didn't monitor which movement was re-mated with which case (constrained by model and size of course) and didn't know of any other clock staff who did. He thus thought collectors worrying about matching numbers made no practical sense. He pretty much surmised most would end up with swapped cases and movements after a few rounds of servicing. 

2- He gave me the last surviving Chelsea clock removed from the old SubBase shop when it closed.  When I wrote to Chelsea and sent pictures, they commented on the fact that it was a 1920s case and movement, but with a "quite professionally" re-drilled late 30's dial that was never intended to be mated to that particular movement.  Chelsea admired the care that must have gone into mating the parts of these two vintages. In the case of my clock someone clearly felt the need to put one together from whatever they had lying around.  If someone saw it at a show today and without the history it would probably get no interest at all...

2- Towards the end of the mechanical marine clock era, one of the other local clockmakers itold him he got ~50 Chelsea ships clocks and decided he didn't want to store them. So he ripped the platform escapements out of all of them and dumped the rest  for scrap, figuring the escapements were the only parts worth saving for sale later. 

 

[River Rat 1]

11 hours ago, Josh B. said:

 

Interesting perspective.  My grandfather has been gone for several years now and so can only now draw from memory.  I'm guessing he did see some fairly abused stuff over the years. He stayed in the trade long after the navy shut down the repair facility at SUBBASE NLON and he continued to service military and standard clock and watch movements from early federal to mid 20th century.

He was a stickler for mechanical integrity, loved high jewel watch movements for their durability and accuracy, and had strong opinions about clock movement cleanliness and lubrication so as to never lose tolerances.. for as long as possible.    He was one of about a dozen people in the US who could manufacture an entire clock movement from sheet brass and for awhile he made a good living cutting custom clock wheels for out of production models where parts could no longer be found. 

To my mind the story on the clock springs was to to drive home these should not be run without regular servicing unless you wanted to ruin them.And that they were engineered for durability at sea under trying conditions that most clocks could not withstand, and they weren't easy to stop with reasonable mechanical shock. 

 

Two more stories that might interest you, since my memory will probably only get worse and not better with time:

 

1- I asked him about matching chelsea movement serial numbers to case serial numbers at one point.  His answer was, "Why bother caring about that, and I'm not sure you should"  When he serviced these for the navy he received them "by the bushel basket".  He'd line ~10 up at a time, pull the movements out, remove the escapements and mainsprings, soak and lubricate as needed, reassemble, check timing, etc.  He distinctly didn't monitor which movement was re-mated with which case (constrained by model and size of course) and didn't know of any other clock staff who did. He thus thought collectors worrying about matching numbers made no practical sense. He pretty much surmised most would end up with swapped cases and movements after a few rounds of servicing. 

2- He gave me the last surviving Chelsea clock removed from the old SubBase shop when it closed.  When I wrote to Chelsea and sent pictures, they commented on the fact that it was a 1920s case and movement, but with a "quite professionally" re-drilled late 30's dial that was never intended to be mated to that particular movement.  Chelsea admired the care that must have gone into mating the parts of these two vintages. In the case of my clock someone clearly felt the need to put one together from whatever they had lying around.  If someone saw it at a show today and without the history it would probably get no interest at all...

2- Towards the end of the mechanical marine clock era, one of the other local clockmakers itold him he got ~50 Chelsea ships clocks and decided he didn't want to store them. So he ripped the platform escapements out of all of them and dumped the rest  for scrap, figuring the escapements were the only parts worth saving for sale later. 

 

Glad to hear the info about miss match serial numbers on movements and cases happens when service by the Navy. I had that thought about one of mine. Another Chelsea collector told me the same thing. On one of my US Navy reverse dial pilot house clocks the case number did not match the movement serial number the only one in my collection that don't match. Chelsea was a stickler on that on that when I ordered a certificate on it, they only put the movement info not the case info. I had to ask them to put both on it and they sent me another. The case and dial were Navy issued shipped October 9, 1918, but the movement an 8.5-inch marine E pilot house movement was shipped to Union iron Works a shipyard in the bay area June 23, 1917. That shipyard repaired US Navy ships in WW2 figured they service the clock during a Navy ship overhaul and the movement got switched like you said mixed up during service. Was glad the case was US Navy issued, and the dial was. Was thinking the Navy movement might have been worn out from years of not being service that it was easier when the navy ship was in overhaul just to switch out the movement to get the ship back into action during WW2.

[aerialbridge]

River Rat, hope you don't mind me adding to your interesting Chelsea maritime clock post, as I'm going on a tangent talking about the WW2 Chelsea's and such with Josh, by proxy for his late grandfather who repaired them back to WW2 days, and my buddy, who's a clockmaker and trained 30 years ago here in Southern California under clockmakers, sadly now gone, too,  some that were involved in aerospace and aviation engineering going back to WW2, when this area was the brain trust for both.   I've sent him Josh's comments since he's not a member and anything he writes back, I'll post.    

 

In the meantime,  as an aside to Josh being a sub vet and his grandfather working as a contractor at the New London Sub Base,  America's first, which celebrated its Centennial several years ago.   In my small Navy medal collection, I'm fortunate to own the full sized medals of the first commander at New London,  CDR (later RADM) Yates Stirling, Jr.  One day, I'll get around to posting those, but probably after I have them professionally reribboned to carefully match the lengths of the original ribbons, which are in tatters, with only two or three of the original seven medals still attached.  I was able to purchase these through the goodness of another forum member, who acted as intermediary for the overseas  collector who had last bought them at an auction.   Unfortunately that foreign collector, given the substantial price I paid, was not considerate enough to send them in a Riker's mount or even try packing them carefully,  so they arrived with the fragile ribbons trashed and mostly detached from the medals.  Regardless, I'm glad to have Stirling's medals back in the USA, as I know he would have wanted, being the America First guy that he was.   When I post them,  they will look at they did when he wore them.

 

Josh,  it would be great to see that unique Chelsea clock in the 20s brass case with the 1930s dial that your grandfather gave you  from the clock shop at SubBase New London, if you want to post it.   As you know, when you write Chelsea to get a clock "birth certificate" they ask you to send both a picture of the movement serial # from the brass back plate and also the picture of the serial number hand etched on the back of the case for the phenolic and I believe stamped on the backs of the metal cases.  River Rat, that's interesting that while they didn't initially send a certificate covering both case and movement where you had a marriage,  they did when asked and gave delivery info for each.  If not too much trouble,  I'd be interested to see what that certificate from Chelsea looks like.     

 

What a waste as far as that story about the guy trashing a few dozen mechanical Chelsea's that he got for peanuts in bulk  40 years ago.   Reminds me of the stories of all the Vienna regulator cases that were bundled up like cordwood in Europe in  the 50s and 60s and sold for peanuts, many missing their top crowns that the Germans had burned as firewood to cook or keep warm.  That's why many Vienna regulators you find today are missing or have replacement crowns.   I have one of the mechanical Chelsea's that dates to about 1985 and near the end before they switched to quartz movements.   It came with a white, 12 hour "US Government" dial which I swapped for a WW2 era,  US Maritime Commission silvered dial.  The phenolic resin case is almost identical to the WW2 era cases, with the knob on the newer one being larger, as you can see in this picture of a  6-inch dial, 1943 US Navy Chelsea in original case and the 1985 US Government one,  The escapement is different from the WW2 era clocks, so beyond case and dials,  to my knowledge nothing is interchangeable or "for parts" between the two eras.

 

 

[aerialbridge]

River Rat's Chelsea WW1 era Marine Mechanical clock movement.

 

 

[aerialbridge]

You can compare this WW2 Era Chelsea 12E Marine Mechanical movement to the WW1 era Chelsea Marine Mechanical Clock movement that River Rat posted above.   Completely different escapement, and sweep second hands vs. a seconds hand sub- dial.    The WW2 Navy Chelsea's with black dials and white numerals  should have white hour and minute  hands and a silver sweep second hand.  You can regulate them with the F and S dial. 

 

[River Rat 1]

Chelsea even used this movement on its US Navy deck clock no.3 from 1916 that's similar to the WW2 one you posted.

[aerialbridge]

Here's a close look at the platform escapement of a WW2 era Chelsea  Marine Mechanical 12E movement.   From wiki- "An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy to the clock's timekeeping element (usually a pendulum or balance wheel) to replace the energy lost to friction during its cycle and keep the timekeeper oscillating. The escapement is driven by force from a coiled spring or a suspended weight, transmitted through the timepiece's gear train. Each swing of the pendulum or balance wheel releases a tooth of the escapement's escape wheel, allowing the clock's gear train to advance or "escape" by a fixed amount. This regular periodic advancement moves the clock's hands forward at a steady rate. At the same time, the tooth gives the timekeeping element a push, before another tooth catches on the escapement's pallet, returning the escapement to its "locked" state. The sudden stopping of the escapement's tooth is what generates the characteristic "ticking" sound heard in operating mechanical clocks and watches."

 

They don't call that a hairspring for nothing.    Most clockmakers won't bother with the work and tools involved to disassemble it and work on it if something is broken.  There are guys who just specialize in repairing these, as many clockmakers will "sub that (work) out".

 

[Josh B.]

On 12/13/2024 at 2:17 PM, aerialbridge said:

 

Josh,  it would be great to see that unique Chelsea clock in the 20s brass case with the 1930s dial that your grandfather gave you  from the clock shop at SubBase New London, if you want to post it.   As you know, when you write Chelsea to get a clock "birth certificate" they ask you to send both a picture of the movement serial # from the brass back plate and also the picture of the serial number hand etched on the back of the case for the phenolic and I believe stamped on the backs of the metal cases.  River Rat, that's interesting that while they didn't initially send a certificate covering both case and movement where you had a marriage,  they did when asked and gave delivery info for each.  If not too much trouble,  I'd be interested to see what that certificate from Chelsea looks like.     

 

Here you go!  This is a photo from over 15 years ago and the backside shot I have looks like a thumbnail now and dont think it's useful here.  You can see the dial was borrowed from a rear-winding deck clock, and an new hole was punched through the face to accommodate the mated movement's winding arbor.  Note the seconds sub dial and even more amazing, the lever F/S adjustment that also needed to be mated up on this dial replacement.  Chelsea had dated the case to the 1920s already and the naval observatory cartouche on the dial, said that part dated from the preWWII era.  The hands may have been modified too. 

 

 

 

 

Chelsea clock images.pdf

[Josh B.]

JPEGS, but they're small.  The PDF above has larger images. I don't know where the high-quality JPEGs went on my hard drive...sorry. 

[Josh B.]

On 12/13/2024 at 2:17 PM, aerialbridge said:

In the meantime,  as an aside to Josh being a sub vet and his grandfather working as a contractor at the New London Sub Base,

 

Please don't confuse me as a Veteran- I do not hold that distinction. 

 

My grandfathers on both sides were servicemen, and I grew up alongside both.  One was in the submarine service  (Senior Chief Petty Officer ) from Korea past Vietnam, then worked at Electric Boat in management for his second retirement. 

 

The other was 5th Army Airforce from end of WWII through early occupation (T-Sgt).  After he returned home from Japan in 1947, he entered Waltham Watch's training school where he became certified in watchmaking.  He was a phenomenal machinist and pursued clock-wheel cutting and brass stamping in parallel with watches and clock repair. He ran the clock/engraving and jewelry group at the NEX at NLON for around 15years, I believe.  When they dissolved the clock and watch part of the operation, he continued servicing clocks from his own independent shop about 25 minutes from the Navy Base. 

 

My interest in militaria comes from growing up with both men, hearing their stories, and of course hanging out all of their ex-servicemen friends who were close to our family (and who gave me stuff from their service time).  I watched several nuclear subs slide down the ways at EB as a family guest, so that didn't hurt either!

On 12/13/2024 at 2:17 PM, aerialbridge said:

 

 In my small Navy medal collection, I'm fortunate to own the full sized medals of the first commander at New London,  CDR (later RADM) Yates Stirling, Jr.  One day, I'll get around to posting those, but probably after I have them professionally reribboned to carefully match the lengths of the original ribbons, which are in tatters, with only two or three of the original seven medals still attached.  I was able to purchase these through the goodness of another forum member, who acted as intermediary for the overseas  collector who had last bought them at an auction.   Unfortunately that foreign collector, given the substantial price I paid, was not considerate enough to send them in a Riker's mount or even try packing them carefully,  so they arrived with the fragile ribbons trashed and mostly detached from the medals.  Regardless, I'm glad to have Stirling's medals back in the USA, as I know he would have wanted, being the America First guy that he was.  

 

What a fantastic pickup.  The Stirling family had storied run with the USN. Love to see them once you "fix" them.  What a shame about the ribbons, but at least these medals still exist and weren't lost to time. 

 

[aerialbridge]

Josh,  that's a great clock.  Looks like a Chelsea  Mark 1 Deck Clock dial from the late 30s or early 40s put in a 20s case, just like you said.  My buddy and I refer to the Chelsea and ST nickel plated brass cases for the Mark 1 Deck clocks before they went to the Phenolic to save the brass as "bunker busters".     I'm glad you're familiar with the Stirlings.  Absolutely, after I get them restored I'll send you a high res jpeg.   Next to my mustang great-uncle's WWI M1852 sword and scabbard with his name acid etched by the Philly Army Navy store he bought it from, and the Dewey medal to the gun captain on Olympia who fired the first shot, the Stirling group of seven is top of my list.   In case you're interested,  Stirling's entertaining autobiography,  "Memoirs of a Fighting Admiral", published in 1939, three years after his mandatory retirement at 64 is in the public domain and digitized for reading.    

 

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Yates_Stirling/Sea_Duty/home.html

 

 

[Josh B.]

8 minutes ago, aerialbridge said:

Josh,  that's a great clock.  Looks like a Chelsea  Mark 1 Deck Clock dial from the late 30s or early 40s put in a 20s case, just like you said.  My buddy and I refer to the Chelsea and ST nickel plated brass cases for the Mark 1 Deck clocks before they went to the Phenolic to save the brass as "bunker busters".     I'm glad you're familiar with the Stirlings.  Absolutely, after I get them restored I'll send you a high res jpeg.   Next to my mustang great-uncle's WWI M1852 sword and scabbard with his name acid etched by the Philly Army Navy store he bought it from, and the Dewey medal to the gun captain on Olympia who fired the first shot, the Stirling group of seven is top of my list.   In case you're interested,  Stirling's entertaining autobiography,  "Memoirs of a Fighting Admiral", published in 1939, three years after his mandatory retirement at 64 is in the public domain and digitized for reading.    

 

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Yates_Stirling/Sea_Duty/home.html

 

Yeah they weigh a ton.  I have two other "heavy" bronze Chelsea's; both radio room clocks in blackened bronze finish with screw bezel cases and US Maritime Commission dials on them.  I don't recall seeing that exact combination in Whitney's book, but its been many years since I last looked. 

 

I also have a WWII USN Chelsea Ships bell in a metal case that badly needs an overhaul. You don't see too many of those- I think the case was some kind of Zinc alloy.  I have another ships bell, much cleaner, by Seth Thomas too but can't remember if it was USN or US Maritime Comm signed.  And several phenolic case Chelsea's with straight time US Maritime Commission dials in various sizes.  I gave a couple of those away as gifts over the years; one to family and one to an old boss who treated me well and who owned a few boats.  My wife has said we need to put together the clock and barometer wall, then maybe decide to part with the rest.  I'm getting there....hahaha. Thanks too for the link on the Stirling Memoir.  Believe it or not, an official period copy of the original property deed/ sale of the land to the Navy for Subbase NLON (originally a coaling station and depot) appeared on Ebay several years ago.  I don't think it sold for much and no idea how it made it onto the market.  Someone must have cleaned out an old paperwork archive, maybe at Groton City hall or other local municipality office.  I remember kind of wanting it but feeling poor at the time didn't pursue it.  I wish I had now, many years later.