Saturday, December 10, 2016

CLOCKS AT CHRISTMAS


I got my love of old clocks from my mother; she has mostly "kitchen" clocks that belonged to my great-grandparents.  These are American-made clocks that were of great value to a household in the late 1800's/ early 1900's and could be purchased for $5 to $10 at the time.  Sometimes they were given as a bonus when the family bought a piece of furniture.  They are beautiful to me.

I recently acquired two old clocks of my own AND I got the other clocks fixed*, so I hope we're in working order for quite some time to come.

My favorite is the Gilbert kitchen clock, made in Connecticut around 1911.  It has a deep rich sound and a strong steady beat.  It needs to be wound once a week.




Then I have a Seth Thomas "barrister" clock, also from Connecticut, made in 1909.  It has a gentle chime with an inlay in its mahogany case.



These American clocks are old workhorses, but clocks made in more modern times don't last as long. The "schoolhouse" clock DH's mother gave us as a wedding gift was made in Korea, and we were fortunate it had lasted 33 years.  But its springs eventually broke and we took the sad step of putting a battery-operated clockworks inside.  It will be a lot easier to care for now.  It has a great sound!



I grew up with a cuckoo clock right outside my bedroom, so the first clock I purchased on my own was a cuckoo.  As I could only afford a small one, here it is:  it has to be wound every day, and if you forget one time, then it stops and you have to play catch-up.  So I wind it twice a day.



My mother found a larger cuckoo clock for me at a yard sale, but repairmen just never could seem to get it going.  Now its clockwork has been replaced with a brand new one from the same company that made it, in Germany, and it is fun to have.



I have been very interested in getting the clocks to all chime at the same time.  It can be a real challenge, since the wind-up ones tend to be a little faster at the start of the week, and then slow down a bit at the end.  And it seems impossible to move the pendulums on the cuckoo clocks up and down to get them just right. But I wanted to videotape them all chiming at once, so I've dashed here and there every hour in an effort to get them on camera.  And here they are!





If you cannot see the video, click HERE.


*Kudos to my repairman Jeff Campbell

**Apologies for the clacking sound my camera makes; can't figure out why it does that



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