Bungalow23

Before I go on and on about the antique clock I bought recently, I’m going point out the elephant in my living room: an antique mechanical wall clock is truly, hopelessly obsolete.

• It requires regular winding and care.
• It keeps woefully inaccurate time compared to even the cheapest modern quartz watch.
• It is only usable in one place.
• It doesn’t correct itself or update for daylight savings time.

In short, the cellphone that is already in your pocket or purse is a superior timepiece to any antique clock like mine.

At this point, you’re probably asking, “Josh, if this antique clock is so lousy, why own it at all?” Well, consider this: although it may not be great as a timepiece, an antique clock makes a fantastic pet.

• It is well-behaved and makes a good impression on houseguests.
• It doesn’t shed or aggravate allergies.
• It makes a variety of endearing sounds.
• It requires feeding only once per week and leaves no messes to clean up.
• It it a better timekeeper than any other pet.

See– mediocre timepiece, brilliant pet.

Of course, this mission style clock is also a great vintage accessory for the living room where it fits in perfectly between the piano and the archway trim. It winds with a brass key that is really a kick to use, and now that I have fine-tuned the pendulum weight I only have to correct it by a few minutes each week.

But chiefly, the charm of the clock is its sound. That’s a hard thing to convey with words and pictures only, so I recorded a video clip talking about the clock and sharing all its ticks, tocks, dings and bongs in case you, too, might be thinking of bringing a pet mechanical clock into your home.

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