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Grandfather Clock Care
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In the last 24 hours, this writer has talked with 2 different customers who were grandfather clock shopping, looking at new grandfather clocks. They both had been quite satisfied with the previous grandfather clock brand they had purchased, yet each felt they needed a new clock.
Well, as it turned out, each of these customers had not had their grandfather clocks cleaned or oiled in the 20+ years that each had owned their respective floor clock. And what about replacing the movement, because the cases were each in fine condition. As it turned out, each of these customers, coincidentally, wanted to give away their existing grandfather clock to a friend or family member, and themselves upgrade to what each saw as a nicer grandfather clock.
Which leads to the point of this post, which is grandfather clock maintenance. Any mechanical grandfather clock with any quality movement should be serviced, including a cleaning and oiling, at least once every three to five years. We get many calls from customers, who will frequently tell us that their grandfather clock stopped working after, say, 14 or 18 years. And they had never had their clock serviced. After many years, even in the best of circumstances, of nothing else, as the oil dries out in a mechanical movement, aside some additional friction which may be caused by dust and dirt build-up, this can then severely damage the mechanical movement. Without getting into the technical details, this is why regular grandfather clock maintenance, and maintenance of all mechanical clocks, is so critical to the longevity of the clock. This is true for mechanical wall clocks, mechanical mantel clocks, brackets clocks, grandmother clocks and more.
The very good news is that with proper maintenance, your mechanical chiming grandfather clock, such as those made by Howard Miller Clocks, Hermle Clock, or Ridgeway Clocks, should give you and your family many generations of pleasure as an heirloom quality object of art to be treasured time and time again.
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