How many remember using a wind up clock

I was thinking about my dad and a very sweet memory came up.

We lived in a small ranch house just like everyone else. Our house was on a small lot perfectly lined up like monopoly pieces.
We had shag green carpeting and a gigantic tube tv that also had a record player and 8 track on the other side. We had one bathroom that our family of five all shared. Thinking back, how did we do that? I remember thinking that anyone with a two story house was filthy rich. All I wanted when I grew up was to have a house with stairs!

It was the early 80’s and we all had wind up alarm clocks. This was part of our nightly routine. My dad would go around the house telling us the time from his watch, and we would set the time, wind up our clocks and set our alarms. I can still remember the exact way that clock tic tic tic sounded. We had the “fancy” ones with the glow in dark hands that we put under the lamp before we went to bed. There was something so comforting about that clock. There was something about those hands glowing in the middle of the night, the glow slowly fading as the morning soon arrived. The alarm it made too, holy smokes, I’m sure all of us have some form of PTSD from that alarm!

It wasn’t long after that I got my first digital clock that Christmas. The kids now probably can’t even imagine how much I loved that digital clock. I felt like I was living in the future. My sister and I played with it and wrote digital words with the numbers like HELLO and HELL and would laugh.
The other day I saw a post on social media that most kids can’t read analog clocks anymore…..

Here is a very similar clock, take a look at that back and see if it brings back some memories!!
www.chairish.com...

How many remember using a wind up clock?

I'm so old, I remember using a sundial. I'm so old, my Bible is autographed.

I got up this morning, and collected my wits
Then I opened the paper, and read the obits
My name wasn't there, now I know I'm not dead
So I ate a good breakfast and went back to bed
....'Get Up and Go', by Pete Seeger

a reply to: ColeYounger

I remember when my dad used to read the obits, what a weird pastime. I guess that was scrolling back then 🤣

We had the “fancy” ones with the glow in dark hands that we put under the lamp before we went to bed.

We had a neighbor girl named Judy that was a practical joker. She was a riot! She was a couple of years older than me.
She told her little brother that if she held the clock under the light for a few minutes, he'd be astounded by how it glowed, but he had to go into the closet to really appreciate it. When he went into the closet, she slid a heavy chair in front of the door. Another kid scolded her for being mean, since her brother was afraid of the dark.
Judy said "He'll get over it."

a reply to: JAGStorm

I also remember people reading the obits every day. As a kid, I though it was morbid. Now I can relate!
Another funny memory was the network of gossipy women who talked on the phone all morning. My friend's mom was like the chairperson of the gossips.
Ahh...the good old days.

Now that I think about it, there was something comforting about those clocks! I remember the Baby Ben clock getting replaced by a General Electric clock radio that had the "wake up to music" feature. I thought it was great, but after a few months, I missed the old clock. I can understand why people are into retro stuff. A lot of stuff from that era is just crap, but some of it is ultra cool.

I miss the mechanical watches with alarms. I used to think those were pretty cool. Nostagically, I check eBay now and then to find a decent one. My favorite watch of all time was my stainless steel Casio Scientific. Nothing like having the cosine of 121 degrees on your wrist. Each one I had, though, the alarm function went kaput in less than a year. The beeper would just wear out.

a reply to: VictorVonDoom

There are two ways to go with watches, extremely cheap or very expensive. The mid grade ones were always a disappointment.

I had a cheap cheap cheap watch that I got from…….A bubble gum machine. That sucker lasted a few years.

Then my mom bought me a Gucci watch. I wore that sucker every single day for five years. It was still working great but the leather band had worn really badly and I never replaced it. I still have that watch. I don’t ever remember changing the battery in it either!

I still have my parent’s beautiful grandfather clock. It has three weights that need winding back up each week.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I was infamous for over-winding them as a kid.

They wouldn't let me near them anymore, but I was always fascinated by the machinery.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Reading the newspaper in the morning while sipping coffee. Yeah!

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: JAGStorm

Reading the newspaper in the morning while sipping coffee. Yeah!

Cheers

The Sunday papers were the best!!! The comics, the ads. These are some of the experiences the youth could never understand. Not saying i’m not for technological advances, but sometimes I do reminisce about a simpler time!

cant forget 80085 is boobs backward. good timess . a big screen that took 4 men to carry and a calculator on the watch? space age.reply to: JAGStorm

a reply to: JAGStorm

Yes, I had one of those for a short time, then switched to a small squared clam-shell type, with the glowing tips.

I'm going to have to learn to make and use a sundial this weekend.

You know, for this year's Pox-eclipse. Like in Mad Max.

Hmn. I should add a moonroof to the #Thrilldozer

I use my Baby Ben clock five days a week to get up in the morning. It is set for about five minutes to seven. My grandSon in law brings the great granddaughter over to our house five days a week and I put her on the bus here and two to three days a week we also babysit for the great grandson too, he is around two years old now. The two other days my ex-wife takes care of the great grandson and my grandson in law's parents take the boy every wednesday. Saves on babysitting costs for the kids.

So I prefer the windup early sixties baby Ben clock. I also have a Big Ben I could use, but need to take that one apart and spray cleaner and some very fine oil in it.

Never did anything to the baby ben....I checked out the serial number and it was manufactured around sixty two. I used it up until maybe eighty five and it got stuck in storage and took it back out and started using it again maybe two years ago. It's still young, I got it when I was around seven from my parents for my birthday.

It isn't hard to wind it up every day, even on weekends so you do not have to set the time. It was not hard to wind a watch when I was young either. It makes you aware that some things need to be tended to every day like clockwork.

The thing I am kind of bummed out about is that the glow in the dials seemed to have withered away after sixty years. It still has a faint glow but not much. I suppose I could find some phosphorous base to mix with the radium 226 powder I have to repaint the dial. My stepfather had that for fixing clocks, I got a little vial of it from when he died. It triggers the Geiger counter ten feet away, so I keep it in an area where it will not contaminate anything. I did find a place to order the phosphorous paint from, I should order it, I could redo all the clocks dials at the same time.

originally posted by: JAGStorm

Here is a very similar clock, take a look at that back and see if it brings back some memories!!
www.chairish.com...

That's the exact one I was trained on at five years of age.

Ah, horrific morning memories.

Getting my first digital alarm clock was a definite improvement, still terrifying though.

RED ALERT! MAN THE BOATS!

Well, my clock might be a little older than I thought, it is a 61-V 2A. Thought it was from sixty one because I got it around sixty two, but evidently they gave me an old clock when I was a kid. It is in pretty good shape, still looks like it is maybe five years old because I took good care of it since I had it. Actually looking it up, it is probably from the late forties to mid fifties that it was made.