Eames Lounge Chair Armrest Question  

It's possible if not likely that your chair is from a transitional period between 1st and 2nd generation models. Unless there is other evidence of the chair having been previously disassembled/repaired, I'd assume that the arm supports are original.

Of course, the armrests are typically among the first components that need replacement on these and yours may indeed not be original. Can you post a photo of the topsides of them?

Thank you. Of course, see a couple of pics below. 

There has definitely been some tampering - the arms rests were drilled right through the body of the chair in an attempt to repair the shock mounts, ugh. so fixing that now.

Your armrests appear to be the earlier style and consistent with the cushion set to me. A likely explanation for the 3-hole arm supports is that HM simply used up remaining older-style components since they were essentially interchangeable. I wouldn't consider the arm supports to be a problem per se as interchangeable parts was a signature Eames design feature meant to streamline production. As long as the seat and back panels match (sequential face veneers and numbered on the insides), I'd say it's a good chair.

Good luck with your restoration. Were you lucky enough to acquire a matching ottoman along with?

tktoo2 thank you for your help/knowledge, really appreciated. yes the bolts/fitment all does line up perfect. And yes it came with the ottoman (with the boot style floor guides), there are a few veneer chips/scratches so working through all those now (and thanks for your other helpful info regarding oil finishes in another post which I've referenced). Will post some before/after pics soon! 

restoration on all the panels is nearly complete, and finally got my new shockmounts, so have a new question. Does anyone know of a positioning template to work out the exact angle and placement of where the main body shockmounts would sit, so the entire back portion of the chair is in the right place? My original mounts had been swapped out for bits of wood, so hardly any use. Or if anyone was able to measure how high their lower back panel sits above and out from the back of ply base of the chair, that would be extremely helpful!!

@renewillem, I can probably help with that if you can wait a week (we are away).

Maybe someone else will pipe in before then.

@renewillem, Have you got this resolved? I thought I'd saved photos from when I (successfully!) replaced shock mounts on my chair years ago but, unfortunately, they're among the missing and I'm reluctant to disassembling it now.

No I haven't, but no don't disassemble it! even with it assembled, is it possible to measure how far the back panel sits behind the back off the base panel, and the distance in a straight line between the two panels? (hope that makes sense) with those measurements (assembled) I can mock mine up to get the mounts in the right spot...

@renewillem, I can certainly provide dims and detail photos of my chair either later this evening or in the morning (Eastern Standard Time). Sorry to make you wait.

From what I remember, marking the exact locations was the easy part but, of course, I had the originals in place as a guide. Getting them to stay put while clamping was another matter as they tended to slide around when clamping force was applied and the viscous glue I used (PC-7, recommended at the time by Alfie Hume) acted more like a lubricant when wet.

no rush whatsoever, really appreciate the help. hear you on the sliding around. I was planning on bolting the shockmount to the back piece, then once have that in the right position (angle/height etc) per measurements, mark exactly where the shock mounts need to be installed, then dis-assemble it again to glue them by themselves - taking care on the sliding as mentioned.

@renewillem. Okay, here you go. Hopefully, these will help. If you poke around images on the web, you'll see some variation. I'm not sure why this is, but my chair is an early 1970's edition custom-ordered as one of a pair (no ottomans!) for the office of a president of a little-known college in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the pair were sent back to Herman Miller ca. late '80's for shock mount replacement.

One more try.

Pix are a little misleading. If I extend a straightedge down the outside of the lower back panel, it would just touch the trailing edge of the seat panel if that makes any sense.

So the chair is now on its 3rd set of shock mounts. I placed the latest set pretty much exactly where the previous were. I have to assume that HM got it right when they made their repair, but...

oh perfect, and yes that makes sense. Will mock my one up going by these, thank you so much for the effort to get these, really appreciated!