My dad is passionate about clocks—more specifically, he is passionate about fixing antique clocks that stopped running a long time ago. When my parents moved into their current home a few years ago, he finally got his own workshop.
I love visiting and seeing what he’s up to! Lately it’s cuckoo clocks.
Not only is he fixing the works on the inside of the clocks, but this year my dad has started fixing up the outside of cuckoo clocks too, by carving and painting pieces to match the rest of a damaged clock. He’s discovering vast stores of creative talent that he never knew about.
I thought it would be fun to count up all the antique/vintage clocks in my parents’ house—including grandfather clocks, carriage clocks, schoolhouse clocks, and cuckoo clocks, among other varieties—and I came to a total of 22 clocks, 15 of which are in the workshop, in various states of repair. (There are probably several more in storage that I didn’t even see.)
I asked my dad which clock he uses to tell time, and he said it’s the digital clock on the stove. Obviously!
That is awesome!! I’m so happy to be able to picture him working there now!
What beautiful carvings!! I love cuckoo clocks anyway, but these are really quite beautiful :D
How awesome! Good for your dad. :) Dan desperately wants a cuckoo clock, but I haven’t found just the right one yet. Maybe if I find a broken one, I can have your dad fix it! ;)
I think it’s wonderful your father has found such an interesting hobby. Maybe he could turn it into a small home business. He could get paid for fixing others’ broken clocks. His carvings are beautiful!!
You go Dad!!
wow! what wonderful work! where’s your knitted cuckoo clock? :)
The knitted clock will always be on my to-do list, but I really want to make a fully-functioning one, so it’s a pretty long-term project!
hahahaha!!! that is so cool!! i love that it’s the digital clock on the stove that he reads the time from!
Those are amazing! I have a really fond memory of a cuckoo clock that hung in my Grandma’s house. Wonder what happened to it…
Last week I kept crossing paths with a little old man as I took my girls on a city-wide garage sale. Every place we stopped he seemed to be there asking, “you got any clocks?” He’d grab up ones he liked and hobble back to his mini-van with the WWII bumper stickers on it. He made me happy – especially since he was no competition in searching for baby boy clothes size 12-24 mo!!
Thanks so much for showing us these beautiful time pieces!
I love cuckoo clocks! Those are just gorgeous.