Roger, thank you for your advice. I was thinking same about quality of the parts in a new clocks. Biggest problem now to find a good repair/restoration shop in my area.
Looks like we are going to make a trip.
Ed.
Quote Originally Posted by roger wiegand View Post
Do yourself a favor and take a weekend trip up to Lancaster county (beautiful almost any time, especially in spring) and go the the National Watch and Clock Museum for inspiration, and then buy a nice old clock from a reputable repair/restoration person. You can have a vastly better clock for the money buying old rather than new. Many of the movements in newer clocks are made of inferior brass that just doesn't last-- unless you go for a clockmaker like David Lindow, who is out of most people's price range. You can get old clocks from any of the Connecticut and MA clock companies of 100-150 year old vintage that are great movements that, with care, will run forever, and very often come in much nicer cases than contemporary clocks.

I do recommend going to a restorer and buying a fully reconditioned old clock. Clocks off ebay or the local antique mall are often in very bad shape, missing parts, or damaged to the point of irreparability. Periodic maintenance on an old clock should run $100-250, depending on the movement, and be done once a decade or so. You will find that many, probably most good clock repair folks will refuse to work on modern clocks due to their low quality-- too many unhappy customers from repeated failures of various components. Major restoration can easily run 2-3 times that, and repairing an ebay basket case double that again. Most good clock repair guys are backlogged 12-18 months or more, so finding a clock they've already fixed is a time saver.

Shelf clocks with chimes from the 1920s to 40's frequently need only cleaning and minor repairs to run well and are relatively inexpensive to buy.