I should apologise to anyone who has been wondering where I’ve gone. I’ve been busy on dozens of DIY jobs, including gardening. I don’t like wearing my good watch when doing these, as it could get damaged or lost, but then I don’t know the time – and anyone who has read this blog will know that I’m a little obsessive about time (perhaps because I’m often late).

I’ve been wanting a nice clock on the back wall of the house for years.  In my imagination, this would be a lovely old mechanical turret clock, but I need to be realistic.  So I recently searched the internet and bought the one shown at the top of this post. I got it on Amazon (Trendsetters brand) for GBP60 including delivery, quite a bargain as there is no way you could even buy the materials for that price. The dial is 80 cm across, so it is big, though not as big as the church clock that I look after.

I am delighted with it, particularly the minute chapter ring with the diamond hour markers, and the fact that the number 4 is marked in the correct IIII fashion, rather than IV as used on many of these ‘antique’ clocks.  I was slightly disappointed that the hands where thin anodised (silver) aluminium, rather than gold, so I bought a tin of metallic ‘gold’ spray paint, which has worked very well.

It is supposed to be weatherproof, but in fact it is driven by a conventional quartz movement with a plastic cover, housed in a round metal casing in the centre of the clock which is open at the back.  Since the clock is open to the elements, I don’t think this counts a ‘weatherproof’ – a short, sharp rain shower left raindrops all over the casing and frame.  So I put a liberal dollop of grease around the shaft, in the hope that this will reduce water ingress and consequent rusting.  Of course, you can’t prevent it entirely, if only because the warming and cooling action of the sun and wind will suck moist air in, which will condense at night.  The inside of the mechanism is mainly nylon, but there are some metal parts which are probably plated steel, so I can imagine needing to replace the movement after a while.

My main concern with the aluminium hands is that they are very thin and light, as they need to be for the mechanism to move them, but the hour hand had come slightly loose in transport as it is only a push fit on the shaft.  If you don’t get it on exactly square, it will either foul the dial or the minute hand.  The minute hand had been bent well out to avoid this (or perhaps when I removed the packaging), but this looked horrible when viewed from below.  I eventually got the hands straight and with the minimum of clearance to avoid them tangling as they passed each other.  But they do vibrate at right angles to the dial when there is a strong gust of wind, and I have a concern that if this happens when they are passing each other, again they could tangle.  Only time will tell.

However I can reach the clock from the window above, so servicing will not be an issue.