Back up and running is the family grandfather clock. It has been in the family for a hundred years plus. I know for sure that my great grandfather had it in his farm house in Northern Ireland in the early to mid 20th century and my great aunt moved it in the 1940s or so to New Jersey. It made it back to Ireland and subsequently California. It ended up at our house in Vancouver somewhere in the 1970s and when my father died I inherited it in 2007.
It was in pretty bad shape, the case is very brittle and warped and the clock itself worked only intermittently. So it sat in our hallway for several years taking up space and doing nothing. Pragmatic me wanted to turf it into the trash but the Mrs has a sentimental streak a mile wide. Last fall I was driving down a random street and say a sign in a jewellery shop window advertising grandfather clock house calls. So I stopped in and the fellow came by and took the guts with him. six months later he came back and the clock is running like a .....Swiss watch?

Once I heard the sound of it ticking it took me back to being a young lad and listening to it tick away during the night. I must admit to a slight bit of nostalgia now but don't tell my wife.
Anyway the clock guy was an interesting dude. He is a custom jewellery maker and watchmaker but doesn't do watches anymore, just clocks. he figures this clock is from the early to mid 1800s so it has been around longer than I had figured. Says it should be good for another 100 years.
A couple of quick iPhone shots, it is not a pretty clock but a true farmhouse clock from years gone by.


