Post by MikeyI'm completely confused. I'd like to spend about $500 and planning on
buying a used clock. Manufacturers? Do's/don't's. Any advice would be
greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Mike,
If the clock will be one about 80-100 years old, or older, then it will have a
decent movement. In those days poor quality stuff was still not common.
If it is newer you have to be aware of the cheap stuff. There are quite a few
"grandfather" clocks out there that were made in China. You can usually tell
by them having only 2 winding holes and/or fake chains, but there may be other
models. Wood work on those can look impressive, but on closer look you can
tell that it is off a high volume production line. While they can look ok,
stay away from those, because a) they are not real grandfather clocks and b)
they are crap.
Brand as such is not a great issue when it comes to real ones. German or
British made are the majority and the movement and case quality are pretty
similar between them. In fact you will see quite a lot of them with no
branding on the dial at all or merely the original seller's shop name.
Basically, you'd want to make sure that;
1) The movement ticks.
If it doesn't, pull on the middle weight a little and just a small amount of
forward pressure on the minute hand and listen if it ticks then. In that case,
the clock will need a service, which will likely be over 500 bucks itself. If
it doesn't tick at all, you may want to put a proviso on the sale, that if the
movement is badly damaged you'd get your money back.
2) Chime and strike function properly. Similarly, if it is sluggish, you can
try and apply a bit more force on the weights to see if that helps and if ti
doesn't, have a way out of the sale.
3) Wood work is in reasonable condition. But wood work is probably the least
of the worries as it can be quite nicely fixed up even by a handy man with a
bit of patience. Hell, even a woman could do it. <ducks> ;)
4) All gongs are present. One for each hammer.
If there are gong rods in the bottom of the case, they can not be refitted as
these have to be tuned length and once they break, they're no good. So in most
chimers you will want to see at least 2 banks of 4 rods hanging down and make
sure they are not pushing into each other or tangled. Bending these things is
a very bad thing, they are brittle as hell and break off without warning.
After 30 years of doing this, i still bend them with a little prayer to the
apropriate Gods. Mind you, to replace them, you'd get a tuned set of rods and
may cost 50-100 bucks. It's not a huge expense if you can replace them
yourself and all you need is a bench vice and a big flat head screwdriver.
Ideally, you would not want one that's been sitting in a shed for the last 2-3
years. It could have rust developing, warped woodwork, etc.. obvious stuff.
All that said, expect in your budget to have the clock serviced. Even if it
goes, it certainly won't hurt it and will give you a piece of mind that it is
good for 5-10 years at least.
Right, i can't think of anything else. Dial perhaps to be in as good a nick as
possible, because they can not be easily touched up. Usually they need a full
refinish and that IS expensive. Perfect dial will be next to impossible to
find on an old clock though and the odd nicks and fades can add to the charm.
Good luck in the hunt. If you have any specific questions, shoot.
--
Regards, Frank