Most early clocks were powered by heavy weights pulling chains over cog wheels.
Not only did this require a large case but the power was very uneven. The coil-spring
drive mechanism made possible smaller clocks and soon pocket watches. Some wrist
watches even today are powered by coil springs.
By
the time of the American Civil War, clock accuracy was improving, using
a pendulum to regulate
the power from a weighted chain drive. The longer
the pendulum the better, giving rise to very tall 'long-case clocks'.
In 1875, these new and more accurate clocks were referred to in a popular
song of the day, 'My Grandfather's Clock' and they have been
known as grandfather clocks since.
By now virtually any person of importance had a pocket watch and in Europe
the ladies soon sported—if they were wealthy enough—wrist watches.
When American men went to France in World War One, they saw at once the
utility
of wrist watches and brought wrist watches, and the concept of plentiful
and cheap wrist watches, back to the United States.
Before launching yourself on a clock-collecting frenzy, you need to do
a little background investigation. If you would not buy $700,000 of stock
without checking out a company, then you should not be investing in expensive
timepieces without knowing the rules:
Decide Upon A Collecting Technique
There are all sorts of timepiece collectors. The National Association of
Watch and Clock Collectors has 149 chapters, most being geographic specific
but many being devoted to specialized areas of watch and clock collecting.
Some people collect based upon the art work of the case. Some collect military
watches. Some collect electric clocks. There are devotees of 400-day clocks
and others collect early American watches.
Where to start collecting? Go buy something, almost anything. Experience
the thrill of the chase and the gloat of the ownership. Then refine your
collection as your knowledge increases. Here are some rules:
• Educate yourself. This is half the fun and indispensable before you start
to write any big checks. There are books, clubs, auctions, many places
to learn more about collectible timepieces. Subscribe to auction house
catalogues, they can be wonderful tools for developing your 'eye'. Sotheby's,
just for example, publishes over 120 catalogues a year in the U.S. alone.
• Go to auctions. If you know your way around you could probably find bargains
at the local flea market. If you want a little help, the major auctions
will not only guarantee—as much as such things can be guaranteed—the
authenticity and value of the items, but they often sell by sets or periods
or collecting areas, making it easier for you to add to your collection
in a rational manner.
• Consider collecting at the second-tier. This is popular with the deep
checkbook collector. If 18th Century French mantlepiece clocks are all the rage,
that means all the good ones are soon going to be out of circulation. This
in turn will promote the next most popular item to the top spot. The trick
is to figure out just what the second-tier is for your particular collecting
area—and then buy up quality stock before your competitors make the
same calculation. Hope you were right, or you have only committed a very
expensive
form of 'contrarian' buying.
• Contrarian buying. This technique is especially popular among collectors
with enthusiasm but small budgets. Buy what no one else is buying and which
is correspondingly cheap. Then hope the popularity cycle will come around
to your way of thinking. This is not as silly as it sounds, given that
almost every style of timepiece has had its hour; the only real question
is, how long will you or your descendants have to wait? Contrarian buying
is also most useful if you collect deep, not wide.
• Collect deep, not wide. A collection of individual expensive timepieces
that have no relation to one another is just that and no more. But the
narrower the focus of your collection—assuming that you can assemble such
a narrow focus—the more valuable the collection becomes as a whole,
perhaps far exceeding the total value of the individual items. This assumes,
of
course, that at some point you sell the collection as a whole, and don't
break it up. A recent auction of a collection of 16 pocket watches made
by one Danish watchmaker from 1860-1905 fetched $325,230, about $20,300
per item. Was each item in the collection worth that much individually?
Probably not.
• Buy quality, not quantity. Buy one of the best timepieces that maker
made, and not ten of his cheaper models. The best of any collectible will appreciate
in value even in a recession, while cheaper collectibles are more subject
to the ups and downs of the overall economy.
Choose Your Purchases Carefully:
Timepiece collectors need to assess the authenticity of each purchase and
need to buy smart so as to create a collection whose value transcends that
of the individual items. Here are some general rules to follow:
• Age: As a general rule the older the timepiece the more expensive. Hardly
a surprise, and most likely intertwined with rarity and condition, below.
Experts can usually assess the age of any mechanical timepiece to within
10 or 15 years, based upon details of the mechanism and of the case.
• Authenticity: The more obvious the clue, the easier to fake. Paperwork
can be wholly invented. Labels that are painted on or riveted on might
have been added later. Additional artistic details can be retrofitted onto
an otherwise plain longcase clock to artificially increase its value. Conversion
kits to convert clock movements from their original construction to something
else have been around almost as long as the clocks themselves. A beginning
collector is in no position to detect any but the most blatant fakery;
buying from reputable dealers and having the timepiecechecked by a knowledgeable
person is the best insurance.
•
Married elements: Related to authenticity, many clocks have "married
elements" in which the case, the dial, and the movement may come from
different times, countries, or makers. Sometimes this was done to preserve
an older movement by replacing the damaged case. Sometimes it was the case
that was preserved and a newer and more accurate movement substituted.
Most often the owner liked the case but tired of having to wind the clock
so often and so installed a movement requiring less frequent maintenance,
see 'conversion kits' under Authenticity, above. The marriage might be
obvious or not, but one thing that is certain is that a "married" clock
is virtually useless as a collectible.
• Condition: At first blush you would assume that it's better to have a
watch in perfect condition, or a longcase clock with no mars on the fine wood.
But time takes its toll, even on timekeepers. Wooden feet rot, paint flakes
off of dial faces, cases get dented and glass broken. Almost any older
watch , pocket watch or clock has had some restoration. But beware the
sloppy repair job which can do more damage to the value—especially the
historic value—of the item than the original damage.
• Quality: In any age, some timepieces were better-made or better decorated—and
thereby more expensive—than others. Quality is not to be confused
with workmanship, as defined below.
• Workmanship. Even Michelangelo's chisel slipped occasionally and the
finest watchmaker has had a bad day or two. But overall, workmanship with timepieces
is fairly even within a line or by a particular maker.
•
Rarity: This is obvious. The one and only pocket watch produced by a company
famous for making wristwatches would be worth far more than its weight
in gold. One "Swatch Watch" today would be worth about as much
as a—well—a swatch watch. It's precisely because most timepieces
today are mass-produced that collectors tend to look to the past, when
timepieces
were individually crafted, for value.
•
Historic Importance: The most uninteresting watch in the world would be
worth more if it is connected with a famous person and/or a famous event.
Be forewarned that the historic importance is often determined by the provenance,
the documentation that accompanies the piece. See "Authenticity," above
and remember that enough slivers of the True Cross have been sold over
the centuries to build a monastery.
• Artistic details: As a broad general rule the more 'fancy' the timepiece
the higher value it will command, simply because people like to look at
art work. Until recent times of course, almost all clocks and watches were
also regarded as art work. Some early American clock cases were severely
plain but of very fine wood and with either rare American clockmakers'
timepieces installed or more common British mass-produced imports. French
cases of the same period matched period furniture, being quite Baroque
at times. British styles fell somewhere in the middle, as befitted a Victorian
society. Sometimes the art work needed to produce the cases for clocks
and even pocket watches far exceeded in workmanship, detail, and sheer
manpower, that needed to produce the actual mechanism.
• Popularity: What's in fashion in today's collectible market? What do
you think will be in fashion tomorrow? If all you want is a fast turnover for
maximum profit, the trick is to buy for peanuts today what will sell for
cashews tomorrow. Most of us lack the requisite crystal ball to make that
determination and all the economists in the world can't tell us what will
be the most popular collectible timepieces next year.
Maintain Your Collection
Take good care of your collection. Timepieces are what museum curators
call "compound" items, meaning they have parts made of very different
materials, each requiring a different preservation technique. Don't preserve
that wooden case with a chemical that corrodes the metal clock movement,
or use a glass cleaner that rots or discolors the wood finish. Most collectors
keep their smaller clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches in special cases
or under glass covers to stabilize the environment.
Also keep all paperwork relating to each item in your collection. It's
easy to let this slide and later find you have more items in your collection
than you have paperwork to accompany them. This can lower the value of
the collection.
Pay attention to sales of similar items and add that information to your
paperwork against a later day when you decide to sell.
And you will sell. In addition to the thrill of the hunt and the pleasure
of ownership, there is the satisfaction of selling for a good profit, or
even to get the money needed to buy a different timepiece. You will find
the grass is always greener over there, someone else has already taken
the brown egg, and your new friend has the very clock you need to complete
your collection—if only you can find someone to buy this pocket watch
you have tired of. In the end, clock and watch collectors are really only
baseball card traders who grew up.
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