Clocks. Just Clocks.

My lovelies.

You’re in for a treat today. I’ll be keeping this post brief!

Today I want to talk about clocks, clocks that don’t work. We have three very old clocks in the house, each with its own special history. None of them worked. We’d had them looked at by clock repairers over the years and each had held up their hands in despair and said it was a job too far for them.

TP had then had a go at fixing each of the clocks over time but, like the professionals, he too was defeated. 

These clocks were declared irreparable. 

 A few weeks ago I decided that even though these clocks will never work with their original mechanisms, we could actually get them to be working clocks by fitting them with modern battery operated mechanisms.

So I did an Amazon shop, as you do.

Let’s see the results!

This attractive wall clock hangs in the kitchen, we don’t quite know its age, but I would think it to be in from the late 1800s. 

For this clock we used this mechanism from Amazon.

https://amzn.to/4ij2CFm

I’m pleased to report that this clock is now working!

This is very attractive long case clock is dated 1821.  It stands proudly in the back lounge. 

It too, got the modern battery mechanism replacement by using this kit

https://amzn.to/4kYIBFy

This beauty was a presentation clock dated 1899. This was the biggest transformation as the clock face was encased in glass and had developed quite a, errr, patina over the decades. 

It took the most work as TP had to patiently clean the clock face then work out a way behind the scenes to set the new mechanism onto the very old and rickety back of the clock. But he persevered and the transformation is amazing and well worth the effort. 

This clock now sits proudly on the roll top desk in the front lounge

Each of the three clocks took much time to “repair“, as the challenges were to remove the clock faces very carefully, clean them, work out a way to attach the new mechanisms and work out which clock hands fitted the casing.  On this last point I will say if you are thinking of doing a similar project, it’s best to buy perhaps a couple of different packs because one size definitely does not fit all when transforming vintage clocks into something that works in modern day. The hands were used for these three clocks with used were from two different packs.

Of course, we saved all of the original mechanisms for each of the clocks, for posterity.

What do you think of TP’s work?  I think he did brilliantly!

He worked on them when he had the time over a span of about two weeks. 

See, I kept my word, quite a brief post, 

relatively speaking. Hope you enjoyed this type of post and I hope you find it useful.  Perhaps you can rethink an old clock in your house that maybe could receive this transformation, making it into a workable clock. 

A la perchoine,

Mary x.