A Stich in Time

How many of you think this year went fast? Holy cow, look at all those hands. I believe its a consequence of time travel and the Mandela effect ( I watch conspiracy videos on my days off). Because I don’t want to get into quantum physics, so lets talk about clocks.

We’ll skip the sundial thing because everyone learned that in school. We’ll also skip over the water clock by the Egyptians and the candle clock created by the Saxons.

The first mechanical clock (its creator unknown) dates to the 13 century and the oldest working clock is in Salisbury Cathedral, dated 1386. The first watches were made in 1510, after the invention of the coiled spring. The case clock or Grandfather clock appeared in the late 17th century with the invention of the pendulum. The cuckoo clock was invented in 1775, the Quartz clock in 1929 and the atomic clock in 1955.

Clock collecting is as old as time and we have seen a resurgence over the past few years .

The clock we sell the most of at the store are the Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clocks. They were made by Westclock and first sold in 1909. They came in many styles over the years and many are still in working order. The wind-up style of the this clock is the one that is most easily found. These clocks not only keep time, they make for interesting arrangements on tables and tucked in bookcases. Buy the non working ones and set the hands to the time your children were born, you met your significant other, the time someone left this Earth or the witching hour.

Place then under a cloche for an elegant art feel or fill a bowl with old watches for instant interest. The possibilities are endless.

As a wise man and clock repairman once told me, “There are 3 types of clocks, the one that doesn’t run, the one that runs and doesn’t keep time, and the one that runs and keeps time.”

Words of wisdom.

*As a footnote to my research on clocks I found a reference to people wearing sundials on their wrists a la The Flintstones and that the electric clock was created in 1840, however the first electric substation wasn’t created until 1880. Interesting.

** Check out the footnote PDF on determining the age of Big and Little Ben clocks below.

http://www.localhistories.org/clocks.html

https://clockhistory.com/westclox/products/ben/id-guide.pdf

https://clockhistory.com/westclox/products/ben/index.html