Grandfather’s clock
There is an old clock in the kitchen here.
When I say ‘old’, I confess I don’t know its exact age but it is somewhere in the region of sixty to seventy years old.
It’s one of those office type clocks that you see on office walls – large, round and with numerals to match. It’s the kind of clock that office workers throughout the world keep an eye on to check if it’s coffee break time, and how long they have to slave before going home.
Someone once pointed out that the clock is unusual, in that the big red second hand doesn’t clunk around like modern clocks, but glides smoothly and silently as if it has all the time in the world, which I suppose it has.
It’s mains driven and extremely accurate….. Except when it stops of course.
I dropped it a couple of years ago. I thought that was the end of it, but I only knocked a chunk out of the casing, and smashed the glass. I kept the bits of casing ‘just in case’.
Last week the clock stopped. Normally it needs a bit of a kick if there has been an interruption of power, but this time it stopped for no reason at all. “Aha!” I says to myself. “The old man has died”.
Since it stopped, it has been hanging there, quietly saying it’s a quarter to five. I never realised how much I look at that clock, as I am reminded many times during the day that it is deceased. The only reason I left it hanging there is that the last time I painted the walls, I didn’t bother painting behind the clock, so there is a dirty great circle of grey up there.
Today, I decided to do something about it. I’m not quite sure what I intended to do with it, but I carefully removed it from the wall. I dismantled it and plunged up to my elbows into its innards. The motor is tiny compared to the clock itself, and it’s full of those fiddly little screws. I stripped it down and found that the oil from the last splurge of maintenance has viscified. Is there any such word as viscified? There should be. The act of becoming more viscous? Anyhow, I cleaned it up and applied fresh oil. Seeing as I had it off the wall I also glued back the bits of casing that have been at the back of the cupboard for the last couple of years.
It’s back on the wall now. It is silently and accurately telling me the time of day.
The old man ain’t dead yet.
“I have misunderestimated your ability as a writer.” –  George W. BushÂ
What happened to the unpainted spot behind the clock?–Willie
Your like me gdad,a fiddler and fixer of all sorts,well done on the clock but even if your repairs were ineffective at least the old boy would be have been right twice a day. Now i have an old broken iron,would you be interested in doing a nixer?
The second hand glides because it’s motor driven.
Or it’s a Rolex.
Funny how times change though. Speaking of old Grandfather clocks I imagined something from 1700. Then you slipped in it being electric. My first reaction was “No way” but then I remembered we had one in the ’50s. Which was old when my old dad nicked it from work. It has to be 80 years old. Probably still going. It was 7 years ago when his clock stopped for good.
Good job on the clock. I love old clocks. I have a few. I hope you used a light sewing-machine oil and not 10W-40 or some such. A lighter oil will be less likely to, “viscify”, and will last longer.
Glad you found some use for the used cooking oil from the deep fat frier!
Willie – The dirty patch is now artfully disguised as a clock again.
Frank – I am very sorry to tell you that once an iron is broken, it’s broken. It’s a pity, as it can ruin an otherwise good set of golf clubs.
TT – Nearly all modern clocks are quartz yokes, and to a man, they all jerk their way around the clock face. My one has a little induction motor [one moving part!!] so it glides quietly and smoothly. As for imagining 1700, you were very close. It stopped at 1645.
Brianf – Is sewing machine oil anything like sump oil? Surely they are all the same thing?
Ian – Please leave Herself out of this.
Ah, you touched on a obsession of mine (and my wife’s)–clocks. We have 27 in house actually. Everything from the wind up type including a real grandfather, a Black Forest Cuckoo and an old Regulator wall clock to digital clocks of various ages, quartz clocks of all types including one that chirps like a bird every hour … a different bird every hour … at somewhere around 90db, one that spouts out snippets from the Three Stooges every hour (in competition with the chirping clock) and one of my favorites–a Wallace and Grommit clock. I keep fixing them and they keep working.
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Yup, 27 clocks in the house and still, we’re always late.
a Black Forest Cuckoo
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I always thought that was a gateau!
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Well done. A DIY grandad – I need one of those.
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Kirk M – Our Doc in the village has a cuckoo clock in his waiting room. On the hour, the cuckoo pops out and clucks like a chicken. He is a weird man, our Doc.
Mossy – Yiz can fuck off. I’m not for sale.