Clocks

[tango]

I've been fascinated by mechanical clocks for years now. It started when I first visited the young woman who would later become my wife - her parents had clocks all through the house and I had very fond memories of sitting talking into the small hours, listening to the clocks chiming. When her parents died I made sure we kept all the clocks (she was an only child, so no siblings to fight with for them!). Many years later the cuckoo clock started to become unreliable and the only place I could find locally that would service it messed me around for nearly three months before I told them to forget it, and give me back the clock and my money. From there I took it apart myself and worked through fixing and reassembling it.

Many people I talk to think that working with clocks would be very tedious but I find it curiously therapeutic. Yes, it can be frustrating at times, but the sense of accomplishment when it works again is really something special for me. Sadly most mechanical clocks have little to no cash value and the time it takes to properly strip, service, reassemble and test a clock is such that the cost is usually many times the value of the clock, so they end up in landfill.

So here's an invitation... if anyone has a clock they particularly like, whether it's worth the scrap value of a bunch of brass or a king's ransom, why not post a picture of it and maybe say something about it?

 

[Lamb]

OH! I wish I had a photo of a couple of my dad's old clocks. I told my sister that if our parents died I don't care what she wants out of their house but the clocks are mine LOL There is a cuckoo from the 70s that almost everyone owned but he also has one that I think is from the 30s or 40s given the styling. It's an ugly green but a nice style.

 

[Josiah]

I just use my phone.... There seems to be clocks in almost everything now....

 

[Lamb]

Digital clocks just don't have that same mood as a regular mechanical clock.

 

[~Jo~]

I have a clock on my mantle piece in the living room, I will take a pic and show you it, ..

It must be very satisfying to have the patience to fix things.

 

[hotrhymez]

I just use my phone.... There seems to be clocks in almost everything now....

^ This...I don't use clocks that much anymore since theres a clock in almost every electronic now..lol

 

[Rens]

I have a superman watch from the Mac Donalds. Digital.
Last real clock I saw was years ago from my grandma, she had one. It's almost 40 years ago, but I still remember the sound and the atmosphere, so quiet. She also had a mill to turn coffeebeans into coffee.

 

[tango]

I have a superman watch from the Mac Donalds. Digital.
Last real clock I saw was years ago from my grandma, she had one. It's almost 40 years ago, but I still remember the sound and the atmosphere, so quiet. She also had a mill to turn coffeebeans into coffee.

Once our house is fixed up I plan to get a grandfather clock. I've wanted one for years. Maybe I'll find one that needs loving and restore it.

 

[Cassia]

I have a clock in nearly every room. There's the digital, and the clock with a bird inside of a birdcage in the bathroom, the one in the living room has Joshua 24:15 and there's another on the stove. I guess I like clocks

 

[Tigger]

I like this little clock. I keep it by the tv in the living room.

 

[user1234]

Hi tango
Great topic and I'm with you on liking clocks, old ones, and cuckoo especially, and grandfathers, old timepieces in general, especially pocketwatches.

When I get the chance I'll take a pic of a modern 'cuckoo' ... Its just plastic, battery operated, but every hour this couple of carolers pop out, and it plays a Christmas Carol, 12 different ones.

It has a light sensor too, so if it's dark like at night, it won't play, which is handy.
But sometimes I get sad when I hear it, because my cat of 14 years, my little buddy, seemed to like it, and he liked the Christmas Holiday time, so sometimes when I hear it play, it makes me really miss him.
Thx for a cool thread. :clock:

 

[tango]

View attachment 712I like this little clock. I keep it by the tv in the living room.

I like Roman numerals on clock faces. I keep thinking how best to make clock faces from scratch. If I win the lottery I'll buy a laser engraver.

 

[~Jo~]

Looking round my house today, I never realised just how many clocks we have here all different in every room..that's not including those that are on things like microwaves and oven etc.and I forgot to take a pic so will get round to that soon.

 

[tango]

Looking round my house today, I never realised just how many clocks we have here all different in every room..that's not including those that are on things like microwaves and oven etc.and I forgot to take a pic so will get round to that soon.

You should see my basement

In the house, excluding clocks built into computers, phones etc we have one or two...

In the kitchen we have two battery operated clocks that belonged to a family member. In the dining room we have a mains powered wall clock (I don't like it much, but the clock I want to put there won't fit because it's over an antique lamp). In the living room we have a mantle clock I bought cheaply (about 1/3 of its market value) at a flea market because it didn't work, and it turned out getting it working was trivial. I'd knocked the guy down based on expecting to have to strip the thing and do a full service on it, but it turned out I didn't need to.

Upstairs in the bathroom we have a battery wall clock, in our bedroom we have an electric bedside clock and in the guest bedroom we have two mantel clocks. In the study we have a very nice battery powered carriage clock my stepmother gave me, and two clock movements (one out of the case, one in pieces). Then I've got something like 200 watches in varying states of repair (100+ work, some are for spares, some haven't been tested yet). We have a little cubbyhole area outside the study where I have another six clocks needing attention and another two clocks in boxes, in pieces. Then in the basement I've got another 11 clocks of which two are in full working order, one works but needs some cosmetic attention, one fundamentally works but needs timing adjustment more serious than tweaking the pendulum length, another one works more or less normally, and three more need attention and three are missing parts so useful only for spares. I also have one cuckoo clock that needs some attention and (I think) three cuckoo clocks worth of spare parts that may or may not ever be made to work.

I would like to put all the clocks somewhere but winding them all gets to be a drag and my wife complains if I have more than a couple of clocks that strike and chime.

Once my house is remodelled I plan to get some woodworking tools so I can make clock cases, for the ones that come through my hands with either broken cases or no case at all. It will also mean I can take clocks that are beyond repair and use them for spare parts to make other clocks, even if that means only a single train clock.

 

[Stravinsk]

Clocks. I like clocks too. But of late I have spent more time - thinking about time.

Flat earther's call this a clock (we do not claim it is perfect, rather - it is a better representation than the globe):

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7h149v85z

Clicking on the image allows you to zoom in. If one looks at the 4 points of the circle, starting from the top (at VI marked "morn") and moving clockwise, you get morning, noon, evening, midnight in that order.

The difference with this timepiece is that the hour is not a static number. The sun's position in the sky determines the hour, not the division of the day into 24 60minute intervals. Depending on where one is in the world and what season it is - hours are longer and shorter.

 

[~Jo~]

Its not a very good picture tho .. the bottom movement swings side to side and the top is just a clock for time..no idea where I got it or how long Ive had it now tho ..will try to get a better pic tho.