***
Ok, so our wall clock died and we have recently been in the market for a
new clock. I told Jenni that I was tired of buying the Walmart specials
that are cheap, yes, but don't last very long either. We have been
through several already. I told her my memories of our cuckoo clock and
thought it would be nice for the girls to grow up with one of these. I
looked online some, but they are more costly than I had anticipated.
Jenni really wasn't sold on the idea of this type of clock either. She
worried about Sophie pulling on the chains. Also, she likes the larger
face so that she can see it well from across the room and most of the
cuckoo clocks have a very small dial.
Well..anyhow...until I got into the searching, I was clueless as to the
incredible variety that can be found in clocks, both in their movement
(internals) as well as their casing (external). It sure doesn't make
the decision an easy one. Most of this variety was what I had seen on
the internet. Truly the selection at most department type stores
(Walmart/Target) was disappointing. We didn't see anything of much
quality either. So...yesterday we went searching downtown Madison for a
clock shop that I had seen in the yellow pages. It took us a while to
find it, but we finally did. Wow! What a neat place! It would have
been fun even if we were not interested in buying a clock. First of all
the building sat all by itself on a corner and was constructed in sort
of a German villa styling with very decorative trimming and such along
the roof. Very ornate. And then stepping inside..it was incredible.
Floor to ceiling...from front to back...just jammed with every
imaginable clock and many of them running. Just to see all of those
pendulums swinging and the chimes ringing all over the place. The girls
were in awe as also was I. They had many many very very old clocks
(collector's items) as well as many brand new ones. Many ecomomy priced
and some that I would have had to rob a bank for. I saw some that
approached 10 thousand dollars. That's just crazy. Anyway the sales
guy was very very helpful. We looked at the cuckoo clocks first, but
Jenni really did not like them, so we told him what we were looking for
and he spent a good deal of time showing us different models and
explaining all of the differences between them. There are very few
sales people that I enjoy interacting with, but this guy was great. We
finally settled on a new one that we liked and we told him our concerns
about whether it would look right once we got home. He said that we
could take it home for a couple weeks if we want and "try it out". I
didn't have to give him any money down or anything. Wow!! I didn't
think you could do that anymore. It really felt like a step back in
time (pun intended).
We got home and put it up and are just in love with it. It is made by a
company that is located in Asheville, NC. We will have to send you a
picture.
Just out of curiosity...what ever happened to your cuckoo clock and
where did you get it in the first place? Did we have that in Remington?
I am pretty sure we still had it for a while on Dove Hill Rd.
3 comments:
This was interesting. It should be a blog piece.Put your picture of it on the blog. Justin do you remember those neat clocks we saw at the mall in Madison? They had different things moving inside and were very expensive. As for the cookoo clock I don't think Pop paid very much for it and it only lasted from what I remember a few years. I think we threw it away!
Love, Mom
Great blogpiece and timepiece! Now I would love to see a few pics inside and out of the clock shop! I'll bet there aren't too many clock shops left in our country. Is your clock made in the U.S.A.? Where are most of his clocks made?
Gee, I didn't realize I was so interested in clocks until you wrote this! Does the one you got tic loudly and gong on the hours...like 12 gongs for 12:00?
Yes the casing is made in Asheville, NC and the movement is made in the Black Forest region of Germany. This area is well known for its clockmakers. It is an electronic movement, not keywound. The keywounds are quite a bit more costly and require the periodic winding, of course. His clocks were from all over the world. I don't know when I will be able to get back to the shop to take a picture. It is not in an area that we go to very often, otherwise. The yellowpages says that it is the largest clock shop in Wisconsin and I can believe it. The guy told me that they had been in business for 39 years. It plays the Westminster chime on the hours and gongs the number of the hour afterward. It also plays 1/4 of the Westminster at 15 min, 1/2 at 30 min and 3/4 at 45 minutes. It can be adjusted to not sound at all or not to sound for any 8 hour period (like at night). Our other clock sounded on the hours and it irritated guests when we would have company stay overnight, but we are so used to it that it doesn't wake us at all.
Post a Comment