Collectors
Winding up these centuryold treasures is like travelling through family history
After seeing Paula Brown’s story about old time pieces in the August-september 2019 issue of Our Canada, I thought I would send along photos of my collection. According to a clock professional in my hometown, the big grandfather clock was built in the 1840s; the faces on the base and at the top of the clock being the trademark of a specific builder. It tells the phases of the moon and sounds traditional Westminster chimes on the quarter hour. It is nine-feet tall, and so in my living room, it has to be set off of its base to fit. I put a marble top on the base, and use it as a table in our TV room.
The small wall clock was a fixture in my maternal grandfather’s office. He died in 1919, so that makes the clock about 125 years old. My mother wasn’t sure, but she thinks it was in his father’s office before him. It chimes the time on the hour and a single chime on the half hour. It is an eight-day clock, but I wind it twice a week to avoid putting too much tension on the springs. I have another wall clock in the shape of a banjo, which I know little about, except that it has been in our family for more than 100 years and the design was patented in 1802. I don’t know exactly when it was built, nor how it came into our family’s possession.
The pocket watch was presented to my paternal great-grandfather by his fellow employees of the Great Western Railway upon his election to parliament in 1873. He was there with, and had frequent personal contact with, Sir John A. Macdonald. There’s a small button at the top to pop open the cover. The watch is wound, and the time set, via a key inserted at the back, that cover being opened manually. I wind it twice a year to keep it from “gumming up,” and on any occasion when I can wear a vest, I remove my wrist watch, and wind and wear the pocket watch instead.