So yes, once I unwrapped the clock [See previous post] and discovered two things broken that I couldn’t fix myself, I needed a clock repairman.
Easy. A quick search revealed four clock repair shops in San Francisco, so I took the clock to the closest. The guy was agreeable and forthcoming, giving me the bad news that it would cost hundreds of dollars to fix the clock, more than it was worth. Sigh. I’d feared as much.
But then, moping around I looked again and noticed that one of the hits was to The German Clockmaker and thought, oh why not give him a call since it’s a German clock. His name is John Kessel, and he’s a native of Stuttgart who was more or less apprenticed to a clock repairman when he was eleven years old. Clock repair became a lifelong fascination as well as an alternate occupation. He lives in Monterey but comes to the city every week to pick up and return clocks; and, when he dropped by to look at the clock, turned out to be a delightful conversationalist.
After his examination of the clock, he broke the news. Fixing it would not be cheap, but he’d give me his best price. And yes, it was expensive, but considering that I have a history with that clock going back to 1966 and that it had been in the possession of at least three, perhaps four other members of my family before I got it back, it was somehow easy to agree to spend more than it was worth to get it back in running order.
He brought it back in a few days, squeaky clean inside and out and ticking away like a charm. My only problem with it was that I had some trouble getting the chimes to synchronize with the hands. I did this easily when I bought the clock and when I set it up at my mother’s house; however, the gears in my head don’t mesh as well as they used to, and it’s now much harder to figure things out.
Sure is nice, though, to have it chime the hour as well as offering a clock face on which to see the time in my living room when the PC is off. Sometimes analog is just fine.
Meanwhile, at other times the analog is just a husk.
2 Comments
AW-RAHT! perfect story that stirs the “warm thoughts” memory bank. I’m happy the clock has come home…………and, in its own right, is just as expensive as the other clocks (no pun intended on the repairs,) the joy, the memories……………. little things do big works.
Johnny
Thanks for the comment. The clock could not have come full circle without you and April, so thanks again for an improvement in my life.