When we clockmakers talk about restoration rather than repair, what do we mean.

The term restoration is much banded about nowadays and can often just be used as a more fancy term than simple repair.

In terms of antique clock restoration, this has only really been in existence for about 30 years. Before that, many repairers did the minimum job necessary just to keep the clock going, and this was mainly about price. So if your clock hasn’t been looked at for 30 years or so, it has not been restored.

When customers come into my shop to enquire about their clock, the usual phrase to describe why they have come to see me is ‘ it just stopped and it was going fine until recently, so there can’t be much wrong with it’. When I tell them that, in fact, it has probably been struggling along for years and has now given up due to having lots of dirt, no oil, and lots of wear, they are amazed, as if because it is a clock it defies the logic of mechanics – would you run your car for years with no oil or any kind of service, that is what the clock has done.

In the past this situation was dealt with in a number of ways depending on the clock man and how much customers were prepared to spend. You could just have your clock oiled – this mean adding oil, usually in an indiscriminate way on top of the dirt, making an even better grinding paste to wear away the parts. You could have it stripped down, inspected and cleaned, then oiled. This was better, but still didn’t deal with the wear issue and cleaning was done by a water based ammonia solution which wasn’t very effective.

Nowadays, when restorers do work on a clock, they do every job that is needed — keeping as many of the original parts as can be kept, bringing them back to efficient operation, which often means redoing work done badly earlier in the clock’s life. All parts are cleaned using an ultrasonic tank, which means as gently and completely as possible, all wear issues are dealt with wherever possible – this means burnishing all the pivots ( bearings) that the wheels run on, and re-bushing the holes they run in ( re-bushing is a way of filling the oversized hole that the pivot has worn into) . All working parts that have created a ‘wear mark’ which may interfere with it’s smooth operation, have that wear mark smoothed away. The ‘escapement,’ which is the part that ‘ticks’ and drives the pendulum, often has serious wear issues and the original geometry has to be re-established to give an efficient transfer of power to the pendulum. All teeth and pinion leaves are checked for smooth running. And any parts that are missing or broken beyond repair are made by hand in the correct style for that clock, and fitted. Finally, all parts are cleaned again, reassembled, and then oiled in the appropriate places – which is not on the wheels as most people imagine.

And this is just the movement, the part you don’t see..

Brass dials need cleaning, re-silvering and lacquering to keep them that way – this was done every twenty years or so in the clock’s life, so leaving it tarnished and dirty is not ‘ keeping the original surface’ as many people believe. Painted dials need careful attention by an artist to maintain/replace missing paint. And the case may need work by a furniture restorer.

All this takes a very long time to do professionally, all work is done by hand and with extreme care and attention, so it can seem expensive. Thankfully, if done well, this work only needs to be done every twenty years or so.

Twentieth century clocks were mass produced and by their very nature, cannot be restored, they were designed to wear out, so just because it belonged to your Granny, that doesn’t mean it will outlive her. Nineteenth century and earlier clocks were made to a much higher standard and will restore successfully.

Over many years I have tried to make analogies between clock restoration and other mechanical work in everyday life, failing miserably. All I will say is that some clocks have been going for well over 300 years, even victorian ones for over 100, and there isn’t another working object in the home that can say that. Try making your washing machine or car go for 100 years.. it will be a labour of love if you can.

It seems to me that in the times we live in, nothing is a reliable investment. It used to be property, then stocks and shares, and failing that, the bank. Well all of these have had rocky times of late.

What of clocks then?

In my experience, clocks have always increased in price, either in the saleroom or in a dealers shop. Why? Because as a rule, antique clocks have yet to reach their real worth.

I am not talking about the top notch makers like Tompion or Knibb, but the less well known makers, the type any one of us could own. Very valuable clocks, like all art, are subject to the vagaries of the professional investment market, they go up and down according to the latest financial ideas.

More attainable clocks have shown a steady increase in their value, some years more so than others, but I have never seen the value of such clocks go down.

The reason? Well, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Antique clocks, that is those made before Victoria came on the throne, were handmade, and on the whole, very well – they have lasted this long precisely because they were made so well. Who can say that of anything made today. Also, in comparative terms, they cost far more to make then, than they are selling for today. If you tried copying one it would cost perhaps five times its current sale price, to make something similar, unlike a chair or table, which can be made for sometimes less than it would cost to buy an antique.

Does that make it a good investment? I don’t know. What I do know is that you can get a craftsman made object that is possibly 250 to 300 years old, that does exactly what it was doing when it was new. That you can enjoy owning such a piece for the rest of your lifetime, and pass it on to your children, for them to enjoy, when it could still be doing what it was designed to do.

Maybe you are asking the question in the wrong way. Maybe the clock should be asking you if you are a good investment, will you look after it for the rest of your days? After all, if we don’t look after these things and pass them on to others that also will, the world would be a poorer place without them.

When deciding what to buy, a few decisions will need to be made, not least of which is where to buy your clock – it is likely to be the only one you buy, and it is a significant amount of money you will be spending. The most important considerations, in my opinion, are -

Do I like the look of it? Is it worth the amount I am being asked to spend? Is it what I think it is?

Only you can answer the first question, longcases come in many shapes, sizes, and prices, so go and look at as many as you can, to help you decide. Longcase clocks were hand-made bespoke items, no two were the same. The only type made between the years 1700 and 1770 had a brass dial, after which the painted dial was introduced, for the next twenty years or so, you could have either, and by 1800, you could only have a painted dial ( or a one piece silvered one that continued in popularity in London). How is this significant? Well, there were many more clocks made in the 19th. century than the 18th., so you will have a greater choice. However there was more diversity in the style in the earlier clockmaking, and after about 1840, nearly all clocks were made in a central workshop or factory, not by the man who’s name is on it. Cases were made from a variety of woods, oak being the most common outside of London, walnut was used for early clocks but was scarce after 1740, when mahogany was imported from the Americas, cheaper clocks were often housed in pine – painted of course, not bare wood as it is seen today. The better woods (walnut and mahogany) were used for the more important cases, oak and pine for country clocks. Again, only you can decide which you want, but bear in mind that walnut and mahogany clocks are far more expensive than oak. Also, by choosing oak or pine, the chances are that the whole clock was made locally to where the clockmaker was operating, including the tree itself, mahogany was always imported. Painted dials were manufactured in places like Birmingham and bought in by the clockmaker to attach to his movement. So the later the clock, the more likely it is a product of different craftsmen in many locations.

Always buy from a clock dealer. Why? Because most clock dealers love their subject and know what they are talking about. Furniture dealers know about the wood of the piece of course, but not the rest of it. Auctioneers, in my experience, know a little about many things, you will need to be either very well informed yourself, or very brave, if you buy at an auction. I hate the job of being the bearer of bad news when such a purchase comes to me for restoration. Thought you got a bargain? Chances are, the opposite!

The longcase clock was a development from what was simply known as the Clock in the 1600s., we now call this type a Lantern clock because that is what they look like. Lantern clocks were made to hang on the wall and run for up to 30 hours at a time – they were primarily used to tell the time overnight, the sundial being used in the day. These clocks were highly inaccurate, keeping only within 15 minutes or so overnight, but developments in the late 1670s. meant that the pendulum could be used as a regulator, bringing the accuracy rate to nearer a minute in that period. Because they were now accurate, they could be made to run for longer so time could be kept track of indoors at any time of day. The clock could now run for a week at a wind, but this meant in now had two weights and a long pendulum hanging down. Too heavy and too tempting for prying hands. This, together with changes in furniture fashions meant that cases were made to house the clock. The Longcase was born.

Initially, made of ebony, as was the fashion at the end of the 1600s., as the new century unfolded, other influences ( not least the Huguenots, with their marquetry skills, coming to England) meant more unusual and highly fashionable woods were used to adorn such cases. This was all in London of course, the country clockmaker was very scarce at this time, but by the early 1700s. country clockmakers too were making these Longcase clocks as their clients demand increased.

All these clocks had a brass dial, as had the lantern clock, just bigger to keep the proportions right. Country clock cases would be made in oak or pine at this stage, transport was poor, more exotic woods scarce and expensive, if your client wanted a walnut or marquetry case, it would be made in London and transported by wagon to the country. Barring small changes in the mechanism, which the client wouldn’t see anyway, there was no real changes until the introduction of mahogany in the 1740s., and the biggest change in the 1770s. of the introduction of the painted dial.

The painted, or white, dial ( sometimes called enamel, which it isn’t), was first invented by two clockmakers – Osborne and Wilson and first advertised in 1772. They were an almost instant success.

There were several reasons for this and price wasn’t one of them. They were initially more expensive than brass dials. The reasons for the success of the painted dial was a combination of ease, clarity, and fashion. Try looking at a brass dial in the evening, with all the lights off, and you will see why the new dial was much easier to read. Ease, because to make a brass dial the clockmaker would have had to plan ahead, he would probably have cast the dial plate himself, bought in the spandrals, possibly the chapter ring and calendar and seconds ring, or at least have had to get a professional engraver to mark in all the numerals etc. on the various parts of the dial, and then silver the appropriate parts, assemble it etc., all before the customer could even see it.

With the painted dial, it was one piece, it had all been marked out and decorated, and the clockmaker could order it in advance of his needs, keep some in stock to show a client when he came in.

Clocks were made to order at this time, not kept in a shop fully finished as we see them today, so before the painted dial introduction there must have been a lot of trust as to what the final clock would look like. Now the clockmaker had a ready finished product to show his client, and one that was easily fitted to the movement he was about to make, as these dials had what was know as a ‘Falseplate’, a plate of cast iron fitted to the back of the dial that could have holes drilled, as needed, to fit to the movement, in the brass dial these holes needed to be concealed under the various dial parts. So, for the clockmaker at least, it was much easier, and for the client also, as he could pick and choose, not from a catalogue, but from a finished product. This type of dial quickly made the brass dial obsolete. Except for the ‘one piece’ brass dial that was silvered all over to look like a painted dial, these dials were fashionable for 20 years or so after the introduction of the painted ones, when they also died out (except in London, where the painted dial never seemed to take off).

It is well into the 19th. century by now, clockmakers were still making their own movements, another popular miss-conception being that the painted dial clock was made wholly in Birmingham and only retailed by the clockmaker, this wouldn’t happen until the 1850s when the whole thing was becoming old fashioned anyway.

A new middle class was living in smaller houses and started buying imported mantel and wall clocks, the longcase was no longer wanted. It had lasted for well over 150 years in its various forms.

See my other article ‘ Buying a Longcase Clock’ for advice on this subject.