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Clockworks...


petitepedal

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I received an old clock..presently not working..but recently restored..I dropped it off at the clock lady's house..a few blocks from work. Cute little old house..filled to the brim with clocks..her former instructor (was my clock guy) wants to retire and he is doing less due to his wife's health issues...and she told me there is anothe clock guy in Hopkins ..a burb also trying to sell his business.

This woman has put her sofa in her garage attic..she has taken in 192 clocks since January 1...She also makes clocks..but has little or no time to work on her iron work clocks.

She said she needs an apprentice :dontknow: but the program for clock repair got forced out of the local vocational school....and she doesn't have the time to take in someone green off the street.

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40 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

I received an old clock..presently not working..but recently restored..I dropped it off at the clock lady's house..a few blocks from work. Cute little old house..filled to the brim with clocks..her former instructor (was my clock guy) wants to retire and he is doing less due to his wife's health issues...and she told me there is anothe clock guy in Hopkins ..a burb also trying to sell his business.

This woman has put her sofa in her garage attic..she has taken in 192 clocks since January 1...She also makes clocks..but has little or no time to work on her iron work clocks.

She said she needs an apprentice :dontknow: but the program for clock repair got forced out of the local vocational school....and she doesn't have the time to take in someone green off the street.

Our clock guy tells a similar story. Six months to even get things looked at. 

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1 hour ago, petitepedal said:

.

She said she needs an apprentice :dontknow: but the program for clock repair got forced out of the local vocational school....and she doesn't have the time to take in someone green off the street.

My older brother is in the same situation with juke boxes. He restores every brand of old juke box, but he cannot find an apprentice from any of the vocational school electronics programs. 

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1 hour ago, petitepedal said:

I received an old clock..presently not working..but recently restored..I dropped it off at the clock lady's house..a few blocks from work. Cute little old house..filled to the brim with clocks..her former instructor (was my clock guy) wants to retire and he is doing less due to his wife's health issues...and she told me there is anothe clock guy in Hopkins ..a burb also trying to sell his business.

This woman has put her sofa in her garage attic..she has taken in 192 clocks since January 1...She also makes clocks..but has little or no time to work on her iron work clocks.

She said she needs an apprentice :dontknow: but the program for clock repair got forced out of the local vocational school....and she doesn't have the time to take in someone green off the street.

I’m having flashbacks of visiting my Dad’s sister & BIL on a trip to Holland as a teenager. My Oom Ed was a clockmaker and their house had clocks all over the house.  Many had chimes that would all start going off on the 1/2 hour.

I remember walking in the house looking around & thinking damn that’s a lot of freaking clocks.  My Aunt then said in Dutch, he’s not crazy, he’s a clock maker! 

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2 hours ago, petitepedal said:

If I were a bit younger...I would consider it...great part time retirement gig.

Sorta like shoe repair people....a really good one is rare, preferably experience with also as a cobbler.  I know people in our city really appreciate good cobblers, etc.

It feels so weird to say cobbler.

Do you think it's because it will take another 3 yrs. or so to master?  Do you have a hobby that requires some fine work, etc.? I bet there is watch repair also.. There is probably fine work...  I can see bikeman546 getting into it.

It's interesting to have a dyi skill.  I've sewed 2 wedding outfits  (couple is still married), 2 of my own bridesmaid dresses for other people's weddings, done alterations for friends ... because I have a sewing machine and can sew fine, etc. (My sewing machine is in Vancouver....another story.)  

A guy's FIL is a upholsterer, he gets alot of work... He's done custom work and also work, en masse for hotels, etc.  Now he just wants to retire eventually.

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We used to have people in a lot of manual trades that have retired and the alternative - if you can find one - is a high-priced chain store.

Broken window glass comes to mind.  A guy who had a ma-pa hardware store would repair broken windows for a reasonable price and if you needed a certain bolt or nut, he'd sell you one instead of having to buy a package with 4 in it.  He also displayed the lawnmowers, weed whackers, snow blowers, etc. my BiL Brian repairs and took a cut of the sale.

When Brian's not recovering from lung lobe removal, he's a small-engine-repair expert and will check out the big hardware stores where they often have an area where "as is" non-working stuff is sold for $25 - $50.  Often, someone tried to start it without putting oil in it and the rotating parts froze together or the wife said, "No way!" and the husband brought it back and said it didn't work even though it did.  Brian typically puts $50 - $75 in new parts into them and sells them for $250 - $400.  A great retirement hobby!

 

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14 hours ago, petitepedal said:

I received an old clock..presently not working..but recently restored..I dropped it off at the clock lady's house..a few blocks from work. Cute little old house..filled to the brim with clocks..her former instructor (was my clock guy) wants to retire and he is doing less due to his wife's health issues...and she told me there is anothe clock guy in Hopkins ..a burb also trying to sell his business.

This woman has put her sofa in her garage attic..she has taken in 192 clocks since January 1...She also makes clocks..but has little or no time to work on her iron work clocks.

She said she needs an apprentice :dontknow: but the program for clock repair got forced out of the local vocational school....and she doesn't have the time to take in someone green off the street.

You could be that apprentice!

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12 hours ago, bikeman564™ said:

:scratchhead:

It’s a novel, and a 1972 Stanley Kubrick film.

Quote

In an England of the future, Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his "Droogs" spend their nights getting high at the Korova Milkbar before embarking on "a little of the old ultraviolence," while jauntily warbling "Singin' in the Rain." After he's jailed for bludgeoning the Cat Lady to death, Alex submits to behavior modification technique to earn his freedom; he's conditioned to abhor violence. Returned to the world defenseless, Alex becomes the victim of his prior victims.

Release date: February 2, 1972 (USA)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Adapted from: A Clockwork Orange
Starring: Malcolm McDowell; Patrick Magee; Adrienne Corri; Miriam Karlin

 

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15 hours ago, petitepedal said:

She said she needs an apprentice :dontknow: but the program for clock repair got forced out of the local vocational school....and she doesn't have the time to take in someone green off the street.

 

3 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

Welcome to the new world.

Exactly.  I'd guessing, like blacksmiths, it slowly dies off as fewer and fewer people want or need traditional clocks.  We still have an old cuckoo clock, but I no longer bother keeping it going.  It is just on the wall for many years - sadly ignored.  It is a piece of family history, but after us, I doubt any of the next gen will be asking for it, and certainly not the generation after them :(

It's the same with antiques across the board.  As folks age, their kids & grandkids have little or no interest in that stuff.  You'd expect, over time, more and more of the tradespeople who were great at maintaining and restoring stuff to fade away into retirement and no one behind them to pick up the slack.

For those skilled craftspeople who do pick up the slack, they will have MORE than enough work, but also will need to be selective in how they spend their time/energy as any resale markets will be tricky - a few winners but a lot of losers (ie antiques that folks want vs have little interest), so being able to identify where the good stuff is will be a key skillset.

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