antique clocks

Yesterday I was in the kitchen very early in the morning to make coffee, and wondered if the coffee maker would shut off before Wifey could join me for breakfast. I like the shut-off feature built into the clock mechanism, as I tend to leave the pot on too long. I notice the time was eleven minutes past the hour. Turning, I see the stove clock and above it the microwave clock, one at eighteen, the other with seven past the hour. In late spring all three of these clocks were reset to the same time after a storm that left me powerless for several minutes. So much for accuracy in the digital age.

But I started thinking about all the clocks and watches in my possession, and I wondered how many were around the house and whether any could be considered the correct time. I don’t normally think of my time pieces as a collection, altho I’m keenly aware of the collect-ability of anything old that keeps time. Another quick look around to confirm that no other time machines lurked in the kitchen and I decided to explore the other areas that held clocks, watches or any thing that displayed time. I don’t have a clock in the living room. Now that’s something I should rectify. It’s no wonder guests don’t know when to leave.

Next I check the Deco room and here I spot this old 1930s thick round glass electric clock. It still tells time but wifey keeps it unplugged out of fear of an electrical short in the old cord, only plugging it in when we are entertaining friends with drinks served from our Deco style bar.

I already know the next clock, it’s new and sits on the sink counter in our main bath. Wifey sets it ahead to hustle me out of the shower when we have a set time to be some place. The guest room yields nothing. I should remedy that if I can find a clock with suitable age to match the décor.

The sun room has another newer clock, selected for its nautical look, it has a quartz movement and runs the battery down quickly. It actually has to be disassembled to change time or battery.

I consider going into the garage, but I know the only device I’ll find there is attached to the dash in the cars. Wifey has moved the time back on her car, so friends we pick up on the way to a restaurant, movie or play will see the time and think we’re “On Time.”

I move upstairs to the studio. Here the shelf clock is older, and I would consider it collectable. Still working is this Westclox analog electric clock. Nothing fancy but it does keep good time in its old Bakelite case. Also in the studio is the DVD with its ever-on digital time. Not quite bright enough to be a night light but always staring at me in the dark like a green eyed owl. Our bedroom has the usual clock radio, this one resets itself to an easy listening station whenever I set the alarm, and I fall back to sleep when I should be getting up. In my dresser are the wrist watches, the “good watch” and some older ones for work or play. Wifey has her own collection of these time pieces, but I’m not about to explore her dresser, for fear that I couldn’t possibly get everything stuffed back.

The office has an ever-ticking quartz job that jumps from one second mark to the next. Purchased at a yard sale for two dollars, it too keeps time until the battery starts to fade. And who can forget the clocks on the computers. Time, day and date and self adjusting for spring forward – fall back. It’s the last word on correct time in this house without having to dial the phone (I think it was TI-4-1212 on the rotary dial). And speaking of phones my new desk job-a-do has the time displayed on a little screen that also lets me know who I don’t want to talk to.

In our basement, I have a McDonald’s clock, purchased from a purveyor at a giant yard sale at their warehouse. It eats batteries, as if they were fast food, so it’s often giving the right time only twice a day.

Our mantel clock is stored downstairs  for now, wifey brings it up when she changes the décor from time to time. I received this one from my Father, who had quite a collection in the past.

Now I saved the best for last. Wifey purchased this antique large case wall clock with pendulum and three weights. It came from an antique store and is mounted in our dining room and admired by all our dinner guests. It’s called a blind man’s clock because it chimes every fifteen minutes, striking first the hour and then one bong for each quarter of the hour. In a beautiful wood case. When I remember to wind, it keeps very good time.

WOW!! I count twenty without getting into Wifey’s drawers or mentioning my laptop or the one on the programable thermostat. I guess I do have a collection of time.

So I encourage you to look around your castle, to see if the addition of a collectable clock could add some extra pizzazz to your living space. I have found reasonable prices on some very neat old clocks at antique fairs and shops, and some super buys at yards sales and flea markets. For more info on collecting time, check out some of the price guides on the subject at your favorite book seller.

Happy Hunting and share your finds with us, here at Collectors’ Quest.

When hubby and I were first dating, we’d go over to his mom and dad’s house for a Sunday dinner. When you first walked in the door you could hear them…the clocks ticking away. I asked where they all were and his dad pointed me to the basement steps and told me to go down and check them out. They were set at different times and at almost any given time, you’d hear one or two chiming, gonging or chirping. He had SO many, I never stopped to count them, but they were of various types, shapes and sizes. He had one “cuckoo clock” that had a bird come out on the hour and sing a sweet song. He had about 15 mantle clocks, with the columns and some with lion’s heads decoration on the side. He had a few of the old Schoolhouse clocks, rather simplistic and with such clean lines. Another one he had we later learned was called a ‘bracket clock’ from England.

I commented on them when I came back upstairs and told him how much I enjoyed his “clock shop.” He laughed and said he did not even know where they all came from. Several were from his family, and when people heard he was a clock-lover, they ask if you wanted ‘this old thing.’ Many of them did not work when he got them, but he had a method of cleaning them and eventually, they all did their thing.

I don’t remember when I noticed it, but one Sunday I went to the basement for some canned goods for his mom. It seemed a lot quieter than I remembered and I switched on a few lights. To my surprise, many of the clocks were not there. I looked around a bit, not wanting to be nosy, but they were not on the shelves and all that remained was their outline in the dust. I grabbed the items my mother-in-law-to-be requested and then asked his dad where the clocks were. It turns out that since he had retired (mom still worked), he had asked this neighbor or that neighbor for help and rather than pay them, he’d let them have their choice of a clock! When I told my husband this sad-but-true story, he talked with his dad and told him that he should be calling us for help, but if he did need some help when we were not available, he should offer them a small amount of money, not an expensive time-piece!

The lecture did not appear to work since the very next weekend I journeyed downstairs and two more were gone. And more disappeared. As our wedding day neared, his dad suggested that we pick out one that we liked for our home. We found a beautiful mantle clock that we use to this day (it still keeps good time.)

We have a few other clocks, one is a tall-clock found at an antique store about 10 years back. It’s so beautiful and is the type that chimes on the quarter hour – called a blindman’s clock since it chimes out the hour, then the quarter hour.

Looking back, I wish we had taken a stronger tone with him, or even hid a few so he could not give them to his ‘charming neighbors’ (who, by the way, should be ashamed of themselves for taking advantage of an old gent.) By the time he passed away, only two remained. One went to my hubby’s sister, the other his mom kept.

They say hindsight is 20/20 and boy, I wish I knew then what I know now. We’ve attended a few auctions that focused on clocks, most of them antiques and well beyond our means. I cannot help but wonder if any of these once chimed in the basement of a friendly man who was far too generous. Hubby and I have learned a lesson from this – if you desire an item from an older family member, don’t be afraid to speak up! Tell them that you would appreciate having the piece and would take good care of it, passing it on to the next generation. The worst that can happen is that they decide to give it to a different family member which is far better than doling them out to strangers.