We see a lot of neglected old clocks. Some of them are family heirlooms that have been forgotten. Some of them have not been serviced or worked on in any manner in more than a lifetime, and it really shows!
In truth, many people bring in a clock and state, “This clock belonged to my Dad, he had it for 50 years, I have owned it for twenty years, and it has actually never been touched!”
At this moment I normally ask how often they have their cars and truck serviced, and the reply is, “a minimum of a year” … A clock is a fragile mechanical instrument, this sort of neglect leads to severe wear on the moving parts, much of which need to be changed in order to get the clock running appropriately once again.
Of course, this is not as easily done as vehicle repair work, there are no spare parts available “off the shelf” for a clock which can be anywhere from 100 to 300 years of ages! This is reflected in the repair work cost, I can spend as long as 5 hours making a new wheel or other part, then the clock repair work and service is on top of that …
I have continued reading a number of websites that you can clean your very own clock by soaking the whole thing in petrol or Kerosene or whatever, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS– you will just clean all the dust and dirt into the moving parts, where it forms a grinding paste and your clock will grind too– to a stop soon after this “cleaning”. Once again in the words of the old tune, “never to go again.”
So what I suggest to anybody who has the opportunity of owning and looking after among these charming old antique clocks is this: Have it serviced, cleaned and oiled every 5 years AT LEAST, every two years would be better.
That method you can pass the clock on to the next generation in great original condition and working order, rather of gifting somebody with a substantial repair expense!
It likewise needs to be thought about that in years to come there might not be anybody around with the needed abilities to carry out the repairs at any cost!
I was walking past a clock store a couple of years back, and two individuals were searching in the window, one said, “this is a clockmaker’s shop,” and the other said, “Oh, I thought they would all be dead by now!”
That true story is actually not far off the mark, so have your valuable old clock fixed while you still can!
