The writer of this blog post has always been a sucker for a clock with a moonphase dial, sometimes also referred to as moondials, whether moonphase grandfather clocks, moonphase mantel clock or bracket clock, or moonphase wall clock.  And watches too!

With antique clocks, dials with a moonphase were especially prized, and were found most often, when they were found, on grandfather clocks or floor clocks.  The lunar cycle is 29 1/2 days, which is one full revolution of the moondial on the moonphase clock.  When there is a full moon outside, the clock is supposed to show a full moon at the top center of the moonphase dial.  It will take another 29 1/2 days to be in the exact same position again.  In the olden days, these days were actually used by farmers to help to know when to plant crops.  They were also of use for people traversing the oceans, although a movement that would work on a clock with enough reliability was invented later and also had multiple uses for navigation and charting voyages.

In more recent years, moondials are seen on many types of clocks.  They are also on wristwatches too, as well as some antique pocket watches. Many clocks, particular in the relatively lower price ranges, and generally with all chain-driven mechanical grandfather clocks, the moonphase dials are faux dials (the nice, and French, word for fake), and are stationary and do not move.  hey are for decorative purposes only.  Most higher-end cable driven grandfather clocks, particular by makers such as Howard Miller Clocks, Hermle Clocks, and Ridgeway Clocks, have working moonphase moondials on their grandfather clocks.

A working moonphase dial on a new or antique grandfather clock is a great feature, if one can afford a clock in that generally somewhat higher grandfather clocks price range.  Keep an eye out for grandfather clock discounts and individual grandfather clocks for sale that have this feature.  You very likely will not be disappointed, whether a grandfather clocks enthusiast or not.

Howard Miller Stewart Grandfather Clock Model 610-948 with working moonphase dial

When purchasing or shopping for grandfather clocks, how important is it for you to have a visible pendulum that is visibly swinging back and forth inside the tower or waist of the clock.

Is this a “must-have” feature to you when thinking about purchasing a grandfather clock.

Remember that many grandfather clocks have solid wood doors where the pendulum and weights are not visible, even when they are present.  Some consumers obviously prefer the solid wood door covering the entire waist or tower of the grandfather clock.  In addition, some grandfather clocks are sprint driven instead of weight driven, and they will not have the visible weights working in the case even when the pendulum is there.  If the grandfather clock also has a platform escapement, there will be no working pendulum visible at all.

Nowadays, there are other options and therefore more considerations when shopping for a grandfather clock.  One is the advent of the decorative grandfather clock, generally quartz or battery driven, where when when opens the door to the grandfather clock, one may find storage shelves or even a bookshelf.   Another reasonably new technology is Quartz or battery operated grandfather clocks where the pendulum is moving back and forth, yet generally powered by magnets rather than the mechanical grandfather clock movement.  In these clocks, the visible weights, while reproducing the general look of a mechanical grandfather clock, will be stationary, and will therefore not move either up or down but will always stay in the same position.  The grandfather clocks weights therefore are decorative only in these cases.

So if you are looking for an “old-fashioned” mechanical weight driven grandfather clock, it comes down to a simpler question.  Do you want a grandfather clock with a glass door, or not?

Let us know your clocks preferences.

Which is the best maker of grandfather clocks?  This is a question we are asked almost daily.  It is a difficult question to answer, both because there is so much cross-ownership in the world of grandfatherclocks, and because there are so many criteria to take into account when comparing both within single grandfather clock brands as well as between the various grandfather clocks brands.

One “fact” seems simple, and least in the opinion of the writer of this blog post.  Based on overall perception and awareness by consumers and organizational buyers of grandfather clocks, Howard Miller grandfather clocks have the most overall awareness, and are perceived by most — the large majority, is our sense — as being the highest end grandfather clocks maker.

We should point out that the mechanical grandfather clocks we sell all currently have high-end German movements, made either by Hermle (whose grandfather clocks movements were used by Howard Miller Clocks exclusively before they purchased Kieninger about seven years ago) or Kieninger (which also makes its own branded Kieninger Grandfather Clocks).  To complicate matters of comparison further, Ridgeway Clocks (which is owned by Howard Miller Clocks) also currently use Kieninger Clocks movements in their Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks.  And just when you thought you had a grasp on the high-end grandfather clocks market, one should be aware that Bulova Grandfather Clocks have been using high-end Hermle Clocks movements, and not surprisingly, Hermle Grandfather Clocks use Hermle grandfather clock movements.  Also, Bulova Clocks, in recent years, has been making grandfather clocks using the Sligh grandfather clocks designs with Hermle grandfather clocks movements, as Sligh Furniture used to do before they exited the grandfather clocks marketplace.

All of these grandfather clocks makers use solid wood cases, at least for their wooden vs.wrought iron or stone waterfall grandfather clocks.

If you know think you understand the high-end grandfather clocks market, just wait 2-3 months.  It will no doubt continue to be a somewhat wild grandfather clocks ride.

Many people growing up over the last couple of hundreds years, particularly in Western Civilization, have grown up with a grandfather clock as almost a member of the family.  If nothing else, the look and sounds that these wondrous timepieces called grandfather clocks remind many of their childhood at home, or perhaps visiting their grandparents or the homes of other friends and loved ones.  Way back when, as is still the case in much of Western Europe, these clocks are and were  more commonly referred to as longcase clocks, or long case clocks, and tallcase clocks, or tall case clocks.

Customers of our who are discount grandfather clocks shoppers will frequently begin their discussions with us by mentioning a grandfather clock that in one form or another grew up with, and they are hoping to recreate that memory, including look, sound, and overall grandfather clock feeling, as much as possible.  Interestingly, people who grew up with chain-driven clocks tend to be drawn to them, at least initially, because of the unusual yet memorable way these grandfather clocks are wound, by pulling down on each of the three chains to bring up each of the three weights.

Chain driven grandfather clocks frequently have a nostalgic appeal, and they also are the least expensive of the different types of grandfather clocks movements.  Partly because the movements are smaller, the grandfather clock manufacturers tend to make these among their smallest models, from a height, width, and depth dimension.

While cable driven grandfather clocks are more expensive, the movement will generally last, based on our opinion and experience, about twice as long as a chain-driven movement.  With proper care, a cable driven movement, we believe, will generally last 25-50 years.  This makes sense when you think about it in that these clocks have much more wear and tear on the clocks mechanisms or clock movements because the chain is sliding through the movement each time the clock is wound.  Cable-driven grandfather clocks can truly be heirloom quality treasures.

A cable driven grandfather clock will not only be larger and generally last much longer with proper care, these clocks also come with more extras or options, including automatic night shut-off, working moon phase dials, triple chimes, lit interiors, and some even have lit dials.  These clocks tend to also have much more heft and weight to them, in cases which can be carved quite intricately.

While the old adage “you get what you pay for” largely applies in this instance, one needs to be an informed grandfather clocks shopper to be an intelligent grandfather clock shopper.

All the mechanical grandfather clocks we sell currently have 8 day movements.

Many of our best customers, and other consumers simply shopping with general inquiries, ask about what German Grandfather Clocks for sale we have.  In fact, all of the mechanical grandfather clocks we have for sale, those that are cable driven and keywound, and those that are chain driven, current have movements which are made in Germany.  The two remaining high-end movement manufacturers that still make quality movements in any quantity are both German companies, which are Hermle Clocks and Kieninger Clocks.

Hermle clocks currently supplies movements for Bulova Grandfather Clocks and, of course, Hermle Grandfather Clocks.  Kieninger Clocks currently supplies mechanical movement grandfather clock movements for mechanical Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks, mechanical Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks, and of course mechanical Kieninger Grandfather Clocks.  Kieninger Clocks is owned by Howard Miller Clocks.  Until about seven years ago, most all Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks had mechanical Hermle Grandfather Clock movements installed.

So if you read the above carefully, you will note that all the mechanical grandfather clocks offered by Bulova, Hermle, Ridgeway, Howard Miller and Kieninger have German mechanical grandfather clock movements installed.  Where the grandfather clocks cases are made is a whole another subject entirely.

So to summarize:

Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks with mechanical movements currently have German made movements made by Kieninger Clocks, a German clock company.

Hermle Grandfather Clocks with mechanical movements have German made Hermle grandfather clock movements, made by Hermle Clocks, of course (and another German company).

Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks with mechanical cable driven and chain driven movements, which is all of Ridgeway’s mechanical clocks, have German made Kieninger Grandfather Clock movements installed.

Kieninger grandfather clocks with mechanical cable driven and chain driven grandfather clocks have grandfather clocks made by the German company, surprise, Kieninger Clocks.

Bulova Grandfather Clocks have mechanical movements, both chain driven and cable driven, which are made by Hermle Clocks, a German clock company.

So when shopping for clocks on sale, a better question than “Where can I buy one of those high quality German grandfather clocks?” might be “Are there any grandfather clocks that you sell that might not be considered German grandfather clocks?”

When you’re shopping for discount grandfather clocks on sale, perhaps you will have to call us to find out.

As we near the end of the first decade of this millennium, it is as good a time as any to look back over the last decade in horology, and an especially good time to look forward to 2010 with the coming of the New Year.  The last decade has seen the rise of some great new grandfather clocks features, and the introduction of many new styles of clocks, especially among Contemporary Grandfather Clocks.

Aside from grandfather clocks features such as auto night shut-off and illuminated dials, there has also been the introduction of what we at 1-800-4CLOCKS would consider to be the equivalent quality of disposable grandfather clocks by no-name makers that have just started to flood the market in the last couple of years.  What is more notable, is that several of the most respected discount retailers have started to carry these, pardon the expression, pieces of junk.  We became more and more aware of them when individuals are calling and wanting to know how to get them running, only to be told we never even heard of that grandfather clocks “brand”, frequently named so that it sounds like an established brand.  Frequently, plastic and plywood and batteries are the key ingredients in these generally very inexpensive, and surely cheap, grandfather clock imitations, in our view.  Some even have the customer doing grandfather clocks assembly when they did not realize that was even part of the plan.

Replicas and reproductions of great clocks are nothing new, and by themselves are not indicative of inferior grandfather clocks quality.  Brand like Howard Miller grandfather clocks, Hermle grandfather clocks, Bulova’s grandfather clock collection, along with Ridgeway and Kieninger still offer super-high quality at a good value.  Solid wood cabinetry and mechanical grandfather clock movements made in Germany.   Surely heirloom quality timepieces, which make special wedding and spectacular anniversary gifts, not to mention special birthday gifts and great presents for almost any occasion.

We hope that customers will realize the difference between quality and disposable grandfather clocks.  2009, and no doubt coming at the same time as The Great Recession, seemed to us to be the peak of the plastic plywood battery driven grandfather clocks which most likely won’t make it to see the year 2015 — as far away as that may seem — much less be around for future generations as heirloom quality gifts.

Happy Holidays and quality affordable grandfather clocks to all, and to all a goodnight!

When purchasing one grandfather clock of the several high-end grandfather clocks makers for sale, most offer a free engraved plate for you to write whatever you think might be meaningful enough to affix to the inside of your grandfather clock.  Many corporations also give grandfather clocks as corporate gifts, for specific length of service awards, retirement gits, or grandfather clocks as achievement awards.  Many of those clocks are given with the plate and the inscription on the outside of the clock.

We find most people purchasing grandfather clocks as individuals almost always choose to put the engraved plate somewhere more discreetly on the inside of the grandfather clock.  The purpose of this post is to share a small sample of some of the nicer or more interesting things people chose to say on their engraved plate for their grandfather clock.

We welcome people to add as comments either engravings they have seen elsewhere or used themselves, and that others might find of interest.

Here’s one of my personal favorites:

The SMITHs      (all names changed for privacy purposes)
May We Always Be Together – A Family
Till The End of Time

Here is another (simple but meaningful, wedding gift to selves):

John and Jane Doe

Married February 13, 1981

Here is another:  (for Corporate Retirement Recognition Award – straight and simple)

William B. Long
Pfizer, Inc.
1974-2008

Here is another: (simply their wedding date)

The Simpsons
James & Carolyn
AUGUST 20, 2009

Here is another:  (first names and personally important date)

Rebecca and Royce
December 20, 2007

Here is another: (with date of gift of grandfather clock)

Elizabeth French
To David R. Barker
March 25, 2009

Here is another: (Board of Directors – Appreciation of Service Award)

ABC Board of Directors
Derrick M. Kennedy
November 10, 1995  -  December 17, 2008

Here is another:  (simple and meaningful)

Jacqueline and William Ramsey
2008

Here is another: (speaks for itself)

to a true professional from your friends at homicide unit

Here is another: (Service Award and Retirement Gift)

CHARLES L. MADISON  JANUARY 22, 2009
30 YEARS GOVERNMENT SERVICE

Here is another: (very simple and yet personal, gift of love)

Mathias 2007

Here is another:  (Board of Directors Recognition Service Award)

ANTHONY B. MENDELSON
DIRECTOR – MINNESOTA BANK
1965 – 2005

Here is another:  (Wedding Present or Wedding Gift to selves)

Judy and John
Beginning Our Life Together

Here is another:  (Wedding Anniversary Present)

To The Next 40 Years

Here is another:  (Wedding Gift from Parents of Bride and Groom)

Linda and Benjamin
Wishing You Eternal Happiness

Here is another:  (Special Wedding Anniversary Gift)

June, Time Did Not Begin Until I Met You.
All my Love, Lawrence

We would love to develop a compendium or reference tool of the best and most interesting engraved plates and their accompanying words of wisdom and/or wit.

Please share with us any grandfather clock inscriptions you feel might merit inclusion.  We also plan to more thoroughly cull through our records to find many more words commemorating weddings, anniversaries, special birthday gifts, retirement awards, and many others.  We will share what we find.

Howard Miller History or Howard Miller Clocks History.

Did you know that Howard Miller was the son of a man named Herman Miller, whose super high quality furniture Company bore his name and still does this day.  Howard Miller decided he wanted to make his own mark on the world, and succeeded, especially in regard to grandfather clocks.  This subject comes up often with visitors to our Clocks Stores!

Herman Miller’s and Howard Miller’s Factories are just across the street from each other in Zeeland, Michigan.  Many of our customer are VERY surprised when this point comes up.  Herman Miller actually produced clocks in small quantities before the Howard Miller brand was born.  We have one great banjo clock from this period.  We believe these clocks to be highly collectible!

Incomparable workmanship. Unsurpassed quality. A quest for perfection. It’s what Howard C. Miller insisted on when he founded the company back in 1926, at the age of 21.

Even then, Howard Miller understood the need to create products that would be steeped in quality and value. He expected nothing less than the best. And it was only under those strict conditions that he allowed his name to grace every clock manufactured at our sprawling facility in Zeeland, Michigan.

Howard Miller was schooled in the fine art of clockmaking by his father, Herman, in the Black Forest region of Germany. Howard developed into a visionary whose keen sense of innovation spawned a tradition of excellence that has been uncompromised through three generations.

While the early years focused on the manufacture of chiming wall and mantel clocks, Howard Miller also produced trend-setting avant garde clocks that stand today in collectors’ galleries. During World War II, Howard Miller joined forces with the Ford Motor Co. to produce anti-aircraft covers. In the 1960s, the company turned its attention to grandfather clocks, eventually earning the company the title of “World’s Largest Grandfather Clock Manufacturer.”

In 1989, Howard Miller began creating collectors cabinets with the same attention to detail and craftsmanship inherent in their clockmaking.

Fashioned from glass and hardwoods, the cabinets are ideal for displaying heirlooms, plates, glassware and other collectibles.

As part of the company’s continuing effort to bring customers only the best in handcrafted products, Howard Miller recently acquired three companies:

The Hekman Furniture Company produces a strong cadre of carefully sculpted hardwood pieces that range from 18th and 19th Century reproductions, to contemporary products featuring fine metals and exotic woods. The Woodmark Company makes fine upholstered pieces. And the exquisite movement in many clocks we offer is made by Old World craftsmen employed by the Kieninger Company of Germany.

While Howard Miller products might once have been primarily considered as gifts for weddings, anniversaries and retirements, the company’s expanded line of offerings is enticing more and more buyers who simply desire quality timepieces and furniture in their homes and businesses — no occasion required.

Howard Miller offers hundreds of items to complement any decor ranging from portable alarm clocks to desk sets to wall and mantel clocks to collectors cabinets to limited edition grandfather clocks. And in price ranges that may surprise you – from $5 to $15,000.

No matter the price of the purchase, you have the same assurance that Howard C. Miller provided when he began offering clocks more than 70 years ago:

That quality be reflected both in the products we create, and in the people whose artistic talents we rely on to manufacture them.

The legacy left by Howard C. Miller isn’t an easy one to emulate. But it’s the only way we know of doing business. Incomparable workmanship.

Unsurpassed quality. A quest for perfection.  1-800-4CLOCKS.com is proud to partner with Howard Miller Clocks in bringing the finest howard miller grandfather clocks, howard miller wall clocks, howard miller mantel clocks, atomic clocks and so much more to the public at large.

We are proud to be a Howard Miller Authorized Dealer!

There is no doubt that Howard Miller, the Company that makes Howard Miller Clocks, and is probably best known for their Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks, is considered by many to be among the if not the highest end grandfather clock brand on the market today.  Howard Miller has certainly shown that to be true in market share, although our sense is that other high quality brands (we will gloss over the the cheap imitation brands and clocks for the moment) have been making inroads in market share.

Interestingly, Howard Miller has almost always used the preferred term of Floor Clocks instead of Grandfather Clocks.  To us a Floor Clock and a Grandfather Clock, whether by Howard Miller or Hermle or Ridgeway or Kieninger or Bulova, are synonomous.  We’ve never been quite sure why Howard Miller Clocks has chosen Floor Clocks as its clearly preferred term.  We should point out that given their success in the marketplace, who are we to really question this strategy.

We wonder how many people actually search on the internet for Floor Clocks instead of grandfather clocks.  We know the Brits are fond of tallcase and longcase clocks as the terms of choice, but our guess is that people in the UK prefer antique clocks to a much higher degree than people in the USA.

Is the term Floor Clock the first one that comes to mind when thinking about a grandfather clock.  We would very much like to know!  Does it roll off the tongue?  Is grandfather clock a poor second choice to describe a grand father clock?  Please add comments and leave your opinion.

We also wonder about mantle clocks vs. mantel clocks.  More and more we see people using the mantle clocks spelling of the word.  Both are correct.  What’s your opinion.  We’d like to know!  Please share it with us any time you lie.

We are very pleased to announce that we will soon be adding the famous My Grandfather Clock Song sung by a great group, which will be posted for your listening pleasure on our website 1-800-4CLOCKS.com.  This song, written by Henry Work Clay in 1876, is responsible for popularizing the term grandfather clocks starting from then and increasing through to the present time.

It was not until some time after 1876 when Henry Clay Work wrote “My Grandfather’s Clock” – and known by many as The Grandfather Clocks Song – which became extremely popular especially in the USA, and gradually replaced the names of long case and tall case clocks to grandfather clocks to most people. The Chorus of the Grandfather Clock Song is perhaps the part that will look and sound most familiar to people.

The Chorus is:

Ninety years without slumbering,

His life’s seconds numbering,

It stopped, short, never to go again, when the old man died.

First Verse:

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 he was born,

and was always his treasure and pride.

But it stopped, short, never to go again, when the old man died.

Second Verse:

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.

Third Verse:

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 hands never hung by its side.

But it stopped, short, never to go again, when the old man died.

Fourth and Last Verse:

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 muffled chime,

as we silently stood by his side.

But it stopped, short, never to go again, when the old man died.