Established high-end clock-makers like Howard Miller Clocks have cleverly avoided the debate by referring to all the biggest clocks they sell as Floor Clocks, so the question never even comes up, or at least is answered, by looking at Howard Miller marketing materials.  Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks and Ridgeway Grandmother clocks also avoid that same dubious distinction with Ridgeway Clocks also referring to their clocks as Ridgeway Floor Clocks.  Hermle Clocks only sold grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks by advertising them all as Floor Clocks.  Very recently, within the last year or so, Hermle Clocks has started to term their floor clocks all grandfather clocks, leaving it to their clock customers and Authorized Hermle Clock Dealers to make any distinction they so choose.  Kieninger Clocks has also followed a similar method as Howard Miller, with all of their largest clocks being named Kieninger Floor Clocks unless their Authorized Dealers, like us at 1-800-4CLOCKS.com, choose to advertise and point to certain models in-store as Kieninger Grandfather Clocks and Kieninger Grandmother Clocks.  Given the ownership between Howard Miller Clocks, Kieninger Clocks, and Ridgeway Clocks is all jointly owned, it is not terribly surprising that Howard Miller Grandfather Clock might be described similarly by Ridgeway Clocks and Kieninger Clock as Ridgeway Floor Clocks, Howard Miller Floor Clocks and Kieninger Floor Clocks.

Grandmother Clocks will typically have mechanical clock movements similar or identical to grandfather clocks.  Grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks will also typically have the same clock chimes, with Westminster Chimes being the most popular, and triple chime grandfather clocks which most frequently also include the Whittington Chime and St Michaels Chime.  Sometimes the triple chime floor clocks might instead include Beethovens Ave Maria or Schuberts Ode to Joy, as the 2nd or 3rd chime options.  These are invariably almost always on cable-driven grandfather clocks and cable-driven grandmother clocks.  Chain-driven grandfather clocks and chain-driven grandmother clocks will generally have a single chime, almost always Westminster Chimes, and will also generally have fewer of what might be considered “bells and whistle” features and grandfather clock extras or options like automatic nighttime shutoff, illuminated grandfather clock dials, rotating moonphase dials, and lit cabinets.

Now are there some unique grandmother clock designs which would lead us to classify certain floor clocks over 80 to 82 inches in height  to actually be grandmother clocks, and the answer is absolutely yes.  They would include the grandmother clock design as the basic framing clock categorization element.  Having said that, there are also certain floor clocks below 80 to 82 inches in design they we would think might be better termed grandfather clocks.  This is especially true for antique grandfather clocks and antique grandmother clocks.  Are the floor clocks or tall case clocks which we think could or should reasonably be considered to be called either or both of grandmother clocks and grandfather clocks?  The answer is an unequivocal yes, and for parallel logic reasons already highlighted above.

At 1-800-4CLOCKS, we were also proud to have introduced (and trademarked) several years ago grandson clocks™ .  As many readers of this clock blog will undoubtedly know, granddaughter clocks have been around for centuries and have become part of the clocks and horological lexicon.  Most simply put, they are much shorter than grandmother clocks and grandfather clocks.  We expect and hope that grandson clocks will one day be as widely known and the clock definition and term as widespread in use.

We also at 1-800-4CLOCKS make an effort to make shopping for relatively short grandmother clocks or relatively taller grandfather clocks to be relatively easy by having created separate categories for grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks.  While on the one hand this initially confuses some of our clock shopping customers in that they see the same clock under 2 categories, customers quickly recognize that this is much easier than calling the same clock by different names.  See for yourself by visiting the following 2 links below each picture:

New Grandfather Clocks

New Grandmother Clocks

In fact, the Americana Grandfather Clock company was founded by the individual who headed Ridgeway Clocks when it was a Division of Howard Miller Clocks for some years.  These clocks attempt to delight and wow the customer and floor clock shopper with gorgeous high quality for the most part triple chime grandfather clocks that are made of 100% of the type of wood that is described including Oak, Mahogany, Cherry and Rosewood.  The Americana Grandfather Clocks also feature both some wonderful examples of contemporary grandfather clocks and Traditional grandfather clocks.  Grandmother clocks too!

All of these models come with both an automatic nighttime shut-off and a working rotating moonphase dial – for those clocks that feature a moonphase dial.  All have German mechanical cable-driven movements.  Some have a dual lighting system which illuminates the case and in some models the dial as well.  Some even have the look and feel of genuine antique grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks or floor clocks.

There is also an amazing and helpful to prospective grandfather clock shoppers array of heights in the clocks, so that many can be considered grandmother clocks as well as grandfather clocks, the only real difference being the height.

All of the Americana Clocks have the wildly popular Westminster Chime, and some also have the Whittington Chime and the St Michaels chime as well.  The styles also include a white grandfather clock and a black grandfather clock, with the white grandfather clock being an especially tough one to find in a good quality grandfather clock brand.

It is absolutely worth expanding your horizons in your search for a grandfather clock.  Not only do we want to be the ones who Add Time to Your Life ™, but we also want you to have the grandfather clock with the greatest design and workmanship possible.

Here are some examples from the Americana Grandfather Clock Collection:

Americana Capitol Grandfather Clock
List: $6,150.00
SALE: $4,612.50

Americana Atlanta Grandfather Clock
List: $6,478.00
SALE: $4,858.50

Americana Indio Grandfather Clock
List: $4,182.00
SALE: $3,136.50

Americana Savanna Grandfather Clock
List: $4,510.00
SALE: $3,382.50

Having said that, generally considered one step up in terms of not only durability, but also chime and feature options, are cable-driven grandfather clocks. These clocks also have 8 day movements. While almost all of them will have the famous Big Ben Westminster Chimes, they will also have some combination of Whittington Chimes, Ode to Joy, Ave Maria, St Michaels and BimBam chimes. The movements, with proper care and in our experience should last 50-100+ years with proper care and maintenance. Cable-driven grandfather clocks tend to be put in heavier and more durable and ornate solid wood cases, and are also frequently taller clocks, partly because the cable-driven movement is larger than the chain-driven movement. Options available to retail grandfather clock shoppers looking for grandfather clocks on sale and discount grandfather clocks tend to multiply with cable driven grandfather clocks. Want automatic-nightime shut-off on your grandfather clock? You will need to buy a cable-driven grandfather clock. What about a working rotating moonphase dial? Again, most all of your choices will be on cable-driven mechanical chiming floor clocks. Want a grandfather clock with an illuminated dial or a light in the cabinet of the grandfather clock. Again, you will be looking at cable=driven grandfather clocks. This is true for Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks, Howard Miller Grandfather and Howard Miller Grandmother Clocks, as well as Hermle Floor Clocks and Kieninger Grandfather Clocks.

The 3rd category of chiming mechanical grandfather clock is the most expensive, by far, least understood by the general public, with the fewest models made. They are generally sold in limited quantities importantly, aside from the expense factor, because grandfather clock shoppers looking for grandfather clocks on sale are not even aware of the existence of this type of grandfather clocks, and there are even relatively few people who can service and repair them throughout the country. These are tubular chime grandfather clocks. The grandfather clock movement’s mechanism will generally trike either 5 or 9 hammers of 5 or 8 tubular chime pipes of varying lengths (each with a different note), with the Westminster Chime requiring 5 tubes and 5 hammers and the Whittington and St Michael’s grandfather clock chimes requiring 9 hammers and 9 tubes of different lengths, each playing different required notes. Tubular chimes tend to resonate more deeply, with a much lower pitch and a longer lasting musical note length frequency. The makers of these clocks are also Howard Miller Clocks, Kieninger Grandfather Clocks, Hermle Grandfather Clocks and Ridgeway Grandmother and Grandfather Clocks. Also worth a special look are the Americana Grandfather Clock brand which we plan to be adding to our retail operations and website within the next week or so.

The 4th type of grandfather clock and grandmother clock or floor clock movement, which is the quartz or battery operated grandfather clock movement. Here there can be many features, but the smart grandfather clocks shopper wants to be especially sure they are not buying a piece of junk. More and more cheap imports are flooding the markets for quartz grandfat5gher clocks. this is also true to a certain degree for the mechanical grandfather clocks. We would recommend only buying from a reputable authorized dealer for a known maker, and most definitely NOT because the model name sounds familiar and NOT because the clock looks so much like one made by a respected high-end maker. We get too many calls from “suckers” who have just purchased clocks that “look like” clocks on our website, or have similar model names, but when they get home and open the packaging, their is no operational booklet, no number to call for help OR there is major assembly required which will lead to who knows what. People then sometimes end up throwing good money after bad.

We are here to help those looking for heirloom quality grandfather clocks discounts and grandmother clocks on sale. Just call us with your questions. No hard sell. We simply want to Add Time to your Life™ with a clock you and your loved ones will cherish for generations to come.

Hermle Grandfather Clock Model 01166-Q20461 (01166Q20461)

We will and do, however, service and repair grandfather clocks and wall clocks and mantel clocks, both new and antique clocks.  Each clock type and clock is an individual, and depending upon the clock’s circumstance, we would recommend a different course of treatment, which might or might not include us.  And yes we do on occasion make grandfather clock house calls just like the old fashioned family doctor.  Fir some mantel clocks and wall clocks repairs, depending upon the issue, the customer, the distance, the budget and other variables, we will sometimes make home visits as the grandfather clock doctor, or for the more junior wall clocks and mantel clock generation.

We even will help select customers, assuming the geography works out for us all, move a grandfather clock,  Failing that, we are generally happy to advise individuals on how to move a grandfather clock, both on the dos and the do nots or dont’s.

Back on grandfather clocks parts, if you call us at our toll free tore number 1-800-4CLOCKS (1-800-425-6257) the voice menu will actually give you prerecorded messages if you are looking for clock parts, including winding keys.  We get no benefit from referring customers to these grandfather clocks parts and other clock parts suppliers and retailers, and it is a more efficient way of us being able to help our customers in one of the few ways we choose not to do ourselves.

Let’s take some of the most frequently asked for clock parts, both for grandfather clocks, as well as key-wound mantle and wall clocks.  Hands down the winner is a winding crank key for a grandfather clock, usually for Howard Miller Clocks or Ridgeway Clocks, with a grandfather clock or grandmother clock door key being the next runner up.  As we deal in antique pocket watches, wristwatches, and antiques in general, we also get request for pocket watch winding keys, as well as mechanical wall clocks and mantel clock winding keys.

Most collectors of antique clocks, including high-end grandfather clocks and mantel clocks and wall clocks, and yes pocket watches too, do not realize that there are basically a dozen sizes of clock keys, one of which will fit almost all American or European grandfather clocks, grandmother clocks, wall clocks, and mantle or mantel clocks made.  The same is true, with a smaller size set of 12 keys, for antique American and European pocket watches, including famous makers like Elgin pocket watches and the Waltham and Hamilton Watch companies, not to mention the many incredible Swiss, French, and British makers, among others.

So the good news is if you need the most popular or sought after grandfather clocks part, it should be very easy to locate at a grandfather clock or Floor Clocks supplier near you, or one whom 1-800-4CLOCKS can and does recommend.

Grandfather Clocks Parts needed - call 1-800-4CLOCKS.com and listen

Just this morning, we got a call from a lady in Michigan who had been given a cheap grandfather clock by her grandson as a present, and it had been of such poor quality that a cable had literally simply fell off of and out of the clock.  The floor clock had been purchased at a well known store we had heard of.  Sadly, when she mentioned the name of the clock model, we knew she was a victim of a worthless imported clock brand that names their models after well-known models of well-known and respected clock makers, and them somehow succeeds in selling these pieces of junk to major retailers all across the country.  The customers, because they cannot get the clocks to work, then “Google” or “Bing” the name of the clock, and because we well a completely different type of clock by another maker, but of the same model name, they reach out to us for help.  This nice lady said as soon as she saw the 3 page instruction sheets she knew she was in trouble.  Not only did it not show any clockmaker or company name, but it also gave zero contact information.  The retailer who sold the floor clock to her relative refused to be of any help, at least partly because this grandfather clock gift had sat unopened in her home passed the period when they allow returns according to their stated return policy.

Had this floor clock not been a gift from a close relative, she indicated she literally was so frustrated with her grandfather clock gift she literally would have taken it out back, axed it so that it could more easily fit in a mailable container, and sent it to the CEO of the well-known retailer where this gift was purchased for her.  But she could not, easily anyway, have explained its absence in her home to the relative who gave it to her.  We informed her we could locate a a clock expert in her area, but we both already knew that spending even another $100 on this piece of grandfather clock junk would be throwing good money after bad.

So the point here is that the lowest price or the seemingly best grandfather clock or floor clocks discount may be no discount at all, if it falls apart before it works, or even if it stops working after a year or so.  Another twist on this grandmother and grandfather clock shopping theme is many find out after the clocks they ordered arrive, while they may look in the pictures or on the web like the models of higher priced clocks, they may not only require significant clock assembly, when no grandfather clock plan was called for or advertised, but also the material may be quite cheap, and most certainly they are not getting an heirloom quality grandfather clock or heirloom floor clock they can pass down to generations to come.

What is the lesson learned here.  The key one is even one going for the greatest grandfather clock discount and floor clocks savings and sales, makes sure you are purchasing a quality clock.  One of the best ways to do that is to purchase higher-end brands known for quality floor clocks, and then deal with a reputable floor clock dealer known not only for great service but also being reputable.  We would not surprisingly suggest 1-800-4CLOCKS as the single source for all your floor clocks and grandmother clocks and grandfather clock selection and savings needs.  Sticing with well-respected brands such as Howard Miller Clocks, Hermle Floor Clocks, Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks, Americana Grandfather Clocks and Floor Clocks, as well as Kieninger Grandfather Clocks, is the best way to proceed.  Furthermore, know what you are buying.  Understand the difference between models both within certain makers and between floor clock makers as well.  Only pay for the grandfather clocks chimes you really want, and the floor clock options, with automatic nighttime shutoff and illuminated dials as just two examples.  additionally, do you want a rotating moon phase grandfather clock dial.  What about the pros and cons between brands.  Solid woos cases.  German mechanical movements playing the Westminster Chimes or Schubert’s Ave Maria or Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, or the more traditional Whittington and St Michaels Chimes.  What about a quartz chiming grandfather clock vs an 8 day keywound chiming mechanical movement.  Also, is atomic time or radio controlled time important to you.  These are all factors to consider in your grandfather and grandmother and floor clock decision making and shopping.  We want you to be happy with your Floors Clocks purchases not only now but with the very same grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks for generations to come.

We have even thought of customizing particular grandfather clock models for particular baseball teams, such as the Red Sox Grandfather Clock, and the Yankee Floor Clock or Grandfather Clock.  We imagine the licensing fees would be rather steep, assuming the team logos are still available for licensing floor clocks and grandfather clocks.

One question we have is whether fans recognize the term Floor Clock as having essentially the same meaning as Grandfather Clock.  We know that interior decorators and home decor experts are fluent with this vernacular, but that does not mean it is necessarily the same demographic that is attending Yankees and Red Sox baseball games.  Having hired people to work at sports stadiums before, one of the least desirable outcomes is to have baseball fans turn negative toward any vendor.  For that reason, we have also thought of perhaps having, like a Baseball Bat Day or a Baseball Hat Day. perhaps we could have a Yankees Grandfather Clock or Red Sox Grandfather Clock Baseball Day, where, say, one of every one hundred ticket holders would win an authentic Hermle Floor Clock or one of more popular models of Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks.  With the right kind of promotion, the economics should be reasonable, and we could make many grandfather clocks shoppers very happy and it would be the ultimate discount grandfather clock and discount floor clocks.

It way be that Howard Miller Wall Clocks or Hermle Wall Clocks, or even a mantle clock made by either of those companies, or Ridgeway or Bulova, or Kieninger Clocks would be a good alternative to offer at this type of event, but it is not likely to elicit the same type of enthusiasm as a Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks or Howard Miller Floor Clock or one of the Hermle Grandfather Clocks.

One home run idea would be if a clock were built with a “take me out to the ball game” chime and perhaps the home team songs, which would of course have to come in every clock and team and model combination, with the home team song chiming on the hour for a grandfather clock or floor clock.

Who are you rooting for?

Should we try to offer floor clocks and grandfather clocks with New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox Logos?

Would going to a game where you had a chance at winning a Boston Red Sox Grandfather Clock or New York Yankees Floor Clock make you more likely to attend a sporting event?  What about Wall Clocks and Mantel Clocks?

One area that seems to have declined over the last decade, and been perhaps a toll of the Great Recession, is high-end grandfather clock kits and grandfather clock plans supporting those kits.  The company we looked o as the leader in this market, Kuempel Chime Clocks of Minnetonka, Minnesota, went out of business perhaps 5 years ago, and they not only sold great grandfather clock kits and grandfather clock plans, but also high-end wall clock kits and mantel clocks kits and plans.  Kuempel used only mechanical German movements made by Kieninger in all of their clock kits, including grandfather clock, wall clocks and mantel clocks.  We used to gladly steer prospective grandfather clock customers and shoppers, looking for a project to build a high quality grandfather clock, in their direction.

Another company, Mason and Sullivan, comes to mind that used to make, many years ago, we estimate 20 and before, great grandfather clock plans and wall clock plans and mantel clock plans.  Their clock plans typically were for reproductions of historic and special clocks by known makers, including the clockmakers John Goddard and Simon Willard and Aaron Willard, as examples.  While they also sold some kits with plans, usually with Hermle German mechanical clock movements, they also had many plans which were used by real craftsmen of their times.  Some of these can still be found today on eBay.

When grandfather clock shopping, looking for discounts on high-end grandfather clocks, and grandfather clocks on sale and shopping in general, an informed and educated customer is the best type of customer and the one who will get the best deal on grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks and be most satisfied with their grandfather clock purchase, not only for years, but for the generations that follow.

Understanding the best grandfather clock brands, which not only include the new Americana Clocks grandfather brand, but also those of Howard Miller Clocks. Ridgeway Clocks, Hermle Grandfather and Floor Clocks, including Hermle’s new Made in America line, Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks, and Kieninger Grandfather Clocks, just to name most of the preeminent brands available today.  But a smart clocks shopper also needs to understand the differences between mechanical grandfather clocks, e.g. chain driven vs cable driven granfather and grandmother clocks, as well as the many features both within and between product lines and brands.  Especially nowadays, one needs to beware of cheap imitation imports which may not last for long at all or may also require much assembly work on the grandfather clock.  We continue to get many calls from frustrated grandfather clock shoppers who purchased a floor clock, even from the major department stores or so-called big-box stores, only to find they have nowhere to turn when their grandfather clock no longer works, or never worked to begin with.  The grandfather clock shoppers realize too late they have been had, after thinking they had gotten a great grandfather clock bargain.

As the retailer Mr. Syms used to say, An Educated Consumer in Our Best Customer.

Grandfather Clock and Mantel Clocks made from grandfather clocks plans and mantel clock plans from Mason and Sullivan in a Press Photo from 1978

As the grandfather clock, as well as wall clocks and mantel clocks and even pocket watch markets matured in the 1800s, these trends continued, and even some 250 years later, such esteemed retailers as Tiffany & Company in the USA and Europe, as well as J E Caldwell in Philadelphia, and countless European-based retailers, would frequently contract for small lots of grandfather clocks, pocket watches, wall clocks and mantel clocks, and other timepieces, where at the end of the day the retailer would put their name on the dials, and sometimes the movements (other times they asked the movement makers not to sign the movements with their own names so it appeared the retailers were more fully integrated manufacturers).

In the earliest years of grandfather clocks, or longcase or tallcase clocks as they were then known, after they started to be made in larger numbers, it was only the most wealthy families that could afford them, which in itself is not too surprising.  The makers of the grandfather clocks knew their target market at that time, and recognized that the buyers of grandfather clocks also frequently had servants and other house-workers including maids and butlers.  So these same makers came up with models that were less expensive, and with movements that instead of lasting 8 days with each wind, which was the norm for the finest grandfather clocks, these clocks would last for 30 hours only between windings.  As the servants time was deemed by the buyers of clocks to be less valuable, this both allowed the wealthier individuals the status of having a grandfather clock that was a cut above those of their servants, and yet their helpers had the advantage, or perhaps burden depending upon how one looks at it, of keeping to actual timed schedules and routines.  A major leap forward in organization and management, which would be as useful for businesses at that time as for fully staffed homes.

When shopping for antique grandfather clocks or antique grandmother clocks, one must always be mindful, aside from whether the clocks parts are all original to each other, at whether a clock has the 30 hour vs 8 an day movement (sometimes one will also come across grandfather clocks with 30 day movements, usually known as regulators, but that is a category unto itself).  Generally speaking, a grandfather clock with an 8 day movement will be considered much more collectible and valuable than a comparable clock with a 30 hour movement.  To begin with, it would have cost a lot more at the time it was made not only to purchase it but to make it.  Additionally, all other things being equal (which they are most definitely not in some instances), the grandfather clock with the 8 day movement probably had more work and finer materials and craftsmanship put into both the movement and the case.  Additionally, a 30 hour grandfather clock movement would have had to have been wound almost 3 times as many times as an 8 day movement, so there is much more of a chance of either a worm or replaced movement in a 30 hour clock.  Having said that, we would never say to steer clear of 30 hour antique grandfather clocks for these reasons, especially if it is appealing and collectible in other ways or for other reasons.

Not too surprisingly, given that grandfather clocks were introduced and made before the industrial revolution, production and manufacturing of both clock movements and cases was highly decentralized, both within and across markets.  It also was more of a craft and an art form compared to many other forms of innovation, so there were many many thousands of makers across Western Europe, Eastern Europe and North America.

Switzerland, while never quite the center for clocks that it was for pocket watches and became for wristwatches, by itself had tens of thousands of amazingly talented watchsmiths and clocksmiths, and they tended to be clustered by and within families, and over time collaboration between families of watchmakers.  As with clocks, watches movements tended to be made by one group, with the cases sourced to specification by the watchmakers.

When looking at the quality and workmanship of yesteryear, frequently the best place to see it is to look at antique pocket watches.  The author of this post has opened pocket watches that are 100 years old, 200 years old, and 300 years old, and unbelievably, they not only may start running immediately (perhaps required a cleaning or oiling, especially to be accurate timekeepers, but frequently not), but they look as if they could have been made yesterday, and in addition, that they may have another 100 or 200 or 300 years of life left in them.  Opening an antique pocket watch gives one the feeling, sometimes, of opening a time capsule.  This is also true if one looks at the more standardized timepieces made in America by say, the Waltham Watch Company or Elgin Watches.  If one wants an example of how American manufacturing can be so consistently incredible and built to last, one needs to look no farther than a sampling of the many  timepieces made by these American companies.

In an era where Made in America may be getting a second (or 1000th) look, a look back at these masterpieces of quality, workmanship and reliability would be great aspirational examples of the quality we Americans have been able to provide the world over, and built to last and at affordable prices and with continuing innovation.

John Harrison was one of the most influential horologists ever, whose work in England in the 1700s contributed not only greatly to grandfather clocks and pocket watches, but also to linking not only the telling of time for ships on the water, but also how it related and might link to not only navigation on the high seas but also planetary movements.  He also invented some incredibly cool clocks, including one known as The Grasshopper Clock.

But the Grandfather Clock song actually refers the the Americanization of the grandfather clock term, compared to the Anglo term(s) used before for a hundred plus years of tall case clocks and long case clocks.  These same clocks are also known today, and some through many years, as Floor Clocks, Hall Clocks, Grandmother Clocks Grandfather Wall Clocks (a misconceptions, but nonetheless widely held) and one or two other terms we are probably omitting at the moment.  Feel free to post comments to remind us or enlighten us.  The song, “My Grandfather’s Clock”, was written by the noted musician Henry Work Clay in 1876.

The general consensus among historians and horologists is that Henry Work Clay wrote this song after he was inspired by the goings on at the George Hotel, an Inn in Piercebridge, England, that. Mr. Clay knew, as he knew the two Jenkins brothers who owned and operated this Hotel.  The entryway of this hotel had a longcase clock which was a focal point of the Hotel’s Lobby.   The story goes that this longcase clock, or grandfather clock as it would later become known as a result of this song, is that the clock always kept accurate time up until one of the two Jenkins brothers passed on.  Shortly thereafter, the clock started gradually losing more time, and this trend continued to accelerate over time.  Local clock makers and Hotel Staff who were familiar with clocks in general, and certainly this one, were all unable to fix this problem.

When the 2nd Jenkins brother passed away, this clock was said to have stopped ticking precisely at the moment “when the old man died”, which became a refrain for Henry Work Clay’s song.  Mr. Clay had visited the Hotel the year prior, in 1875.  He heard many of the above stories, and had a chance to ask question and get feedback.  Incidentally, this Hotel is still in existence today.  Our guess is the grandfather clock, whether the original one or not, is now working.

The clock was 1½ times taller than the more recently deceased grandfather’s height at the time of his death, though they apparently weighed about the same (not sure why exactly relevant, it is wide reported upon).  The clock had been purchased on the actual birthday of the more recently deceased of the 2 brothers.  Fascinated is the fact that the clock worked apparently worked great for 90 years, with the problems only beginning and the clock stopping on his 90th birthday.

This grandfather clock had one unusual feature.  When Mr Jenkins, last of the 2 brothers to pass, brought his bride into the Hotel, this clock somehow (magically, with a remote of some sort, or a switch or clock lever perhaps – we may never know), would always ring 24 times whenever his wife visited the Hotel.

Then one night, and at a time when Mr. Jenkins was extremely ill, the clock made an unusual sound the Innkeepers had never heard before, yet they somehow sensed or “knew” that this meant Mr. Jenkins would soon die.  Sure enough, he did several hours later, and amazingly the grandfather clock stopped ticking and working at precisely the moment Mr. Jenkins heart stopped beating.  None of the Inn’s staff, nor any of the best clocksmiths in the area, were able to fix the clock. The grandfather clocks song was popularized around the world in the late 1800s, first in England.  It gradually and continually took hold more and more over time in the USA, to the point now where a grandfather clock or grandfather clocks is in the fact term most everyone on North America uses today- one rarely see longcase clocks or tall case clocks as the defining term.

Here BELOW are the lyrics to Henry Clay Work’s creation and rendition on “My Grandfather Clock” My grandfather’s clock
Was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;
It was taller by half
Than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
It was bought on the morn
Of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.

CHORUS:
Ninety years without slumbering,
Tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
Tick, tock, tick, tock,
It stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.

In watching its pendulum
Swing to and fro,
Many hours had he spent while a boy;
And in childhood and manhood
The clock seemed to know,
And to share both his grief and his joy.
For it struck twenty-four
When he entered at the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride;
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.
CHORUS

My grandfather said
That of those he could hire,
Not a servant so faithful he found;
For it wasted no time,
And had but one desire,
At the close of each week to be wound.
And it kept in its place,
Not a frown upon its face,
And its hand never hung by its side.
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.
CHORUS
It rang an alarm
In the dead of the night,
An alarm that for years had been dumb;
And we knew that his spirit
Was pluming for flight,
That his hour of departure had come.
Still the clock kept the time,
With a soft and muffled chime,
As we silently stood by his side.
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.
CHORUS

Some really nice grandfather clocks by Howard Miller Clocks and Hermle Clocks:

Howard Miller Coolidge Grandfather Clock List: $7,082.00 SALE: $4,957.40 Hermle Triple Chime Grandfather Clock List: $2,909.00 SALE: $1,949.00

In the last six months we have noticed that many of what might be, or have been, considered to be among the higher end retailers, are now carrying more and more cheaply made clocks at seeming too good to be true but actually bad value prices, with many of the  clock models designed to look very much like the higher price and much better quality clocks that they had previously only sold exclusively, e.g. the higher quality mechanical grandfather clocks made by Howard Miller and Hermle Floor Clocks or Howard Miller Keywound Chiming Mantel Clocks, or Kieninger Grandfather Clocks and mantel clocks.  Ridgeway Clocks and Infinity Clocks, not to mention Black Forest German-made cuckoo clocks by the Anton Schneider Clock Company, and we are now seeing what are essentially cheap knock-offs that frequently require assembly, are made of particle board or thin woods not likely to last for very long, and with movements that do not even begin to compare with, for example, the German made mechanical winding grandfather clock movements that are in all the mechanical grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks we currently sell!

Here are some of our highest end most interesting grandfather clocks, which some might think of as grandfather wall clocks:

Kieninger Edwards Grandfather Clock <-[Links to clock on our website - amazing contemporary tubular chime grandfather clock Made in Germany]

Howard Miller J. H. Miller Grandfather Clock <- [also links to our website - another amazing tubular chime clock with German movement, traditional style, Model 611-030 611030]

Also worth a special look are the:

Howard Miller Taylor Grandfather Clock

Howard Miller Reagan Grandfather Clock

Howard Miller Eisenhower Grandfather Clock