Hi Woodsy,
The new pics certainly do help, if only to confirm that it is an honest piece. What Gingertom was suggesting was that the main frame was basically pine with an oak veneer, not that it would have been made of plywood. However, at that time, it could easily have been far more expensive, and required a great deal of craftsmanship, to have started with a pine base and veneered it with oak ... far cheaper and easier to make the whole thing from oak, which was more abundant then than now.
It has been through the wars in places, and would require a bit of restoration if you planned to sell it on, either by you or the buyer, but if you plan to keep it (I certainly would), with a bit of time and effort you could have yourself a beautiful clock there.
It does seem so strange that someone would have made such a bodged job of scratching a date on like that, especially in such a prominent place.
I'm no expert, so I couldn't say whether it does date from 1838, but it could quite easily be, and there are so many similarities, in style, between yours and the Bilbie, right down to the style of the chapter ring, that I would wager that they are contemporaries, and not that far apart. Fashions in clocks are the same as fashions elsewhere, cabinet makers will copy what is popular at the time, but a particular style will remain in fashion for only so long. The only other reason for similarities would be that it was a reproduction, and I'm 100% certain that it isn't.
Good luck! A nice piece.