Antique Clocks Powered by Electricity

Series Summary

When talking about collecting and collectibles, grandfather clocks are inevitably mentioned, often along with some type of antique collectible mantle clock. There are a great many antique clocks which appeal to the clock-collecting enthusiast. But what should one look for when buying an antique clock? What exactly is a swinger clock? And what is a mercury pendulum? Great questions! Learn to collect antique clocks and what to look for in this free video series from an antique clock expert. In this free video series, a clock expert discusses early electric clocks made by the Telechron company. He also talks about basic clock components such as springs and bearings, which are usually the first parts to give out on antique clocks. Learn about clocks from the 1800s by examining stereoscopes and photographs which contain images of these clocks. The expert also talks about buying an antique clock from a dealer or an Internet auction site, or buying antique clock reproductions for those who don't want to spend the cash for the real deal.

Video Transcript

"While most electric clocks and certainly battery operated clocks are too new and too common to be of interest to clock collectors. Theres early electrically powered clocks which can be quite valuable and quite interesting to collect and to own. Good book here, 150 Years of Electric Horology. Tells us a lot about some of those early ones if you need a background lesson on some of these things. But just to see what we have here, a Eureka clock. And a lot of these are mechanical clocks which are somehow helped along by electricity. In this case, an English clock from about 1906. This giant balance wheel rotates slowly and is impulsed by a battery. And this bar clock, similar to its predecessor, known as a pool clock. Again a ticking clock, but sort of the opposite of a regular clock powered by electricity where the power is coming from the movement to swing the pendulum. In this case the pendulum is swinging back and forth impulsed by electricity and magnetism, which then powers the clock from the pendulum. Certainly we then would advance to plug in clocks. Again, most are too new to be interesting. But there are early ones, particularly by the Hammond Company, which keep in mind were not self starting. If the power stopped, you'd have to restart these. But in addition to being a nice quality early electric motor, you'll see in this case this is also a calendar clock. So early electrics, pretty rare. Sometimes hard to make work, but definitely worth collecting if you have an interest in that direction."