I went to the clock shop last week to pick up our clock. It goes to the shop every three years or so to be cleaned an oiled. The man who does the repairs was not in the shop at the moment so a teenaged employee assisted me. He first checked the computer for any records of our clock. After entering the number from my claim ticket did not work, he asked me to spell our name. He found our name and address in the computer and confirmed our phone number. He also asked me for an e-mail address, which I gave. Then he asked me if the clock had been in the shop since 2007. I said, “No, we just brought it in last week.” He checked again and said that the computer showed that the clock was brought in in 2007 and never picked up. Then he commented that it was also brought in sometime in 2010. “Did it get picked up in 2010?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied.

I stood there for an awkward moment during which he said nothing and then asked if I could just go down into the basement where the hang repaired clocks on the wall and identify the clock. “We can match the tag on the clock to my ticket,” I offered. “But you picked up the clock,” he began. “That was in 2010. Then we brought it back this year. We get it cleaned every few years.” “Is it electric?” he asked. “No,” I replied. “Oh!” he said, as if that explained everything. I decided not to make a comment about how the computer might be wrong.

We went down stairs, where the clock was easily located. I lifted it off of the wall. “I’m not sure you are supposed to do that,” he said. “It is the only way to get it home,” I responded. “Oh!” he said, and watched as I removed the pendulum and carried the clock upstairs and laid it on the counter. After quite a bit of consternation and clicking keys on the cash register, he came up with the price, which was the same as I had remembered from last time the clock was cleaned. I offered my bankcard to pay. This he understood. He quickly produced a receipt for me to sign and handed back the card.

“Should I tell you how to hang up the clock and take care of it?” he offered. “I don’t think it will be a problem,” I said. “It has been hanging on the same wall since we bought the house.” “Have you ever considered having a more major overhaul?” he asked. “We just do the repairs recommended by your clock man,” I said. “But you have to keep bringing it back for cleaning.” He said. “Yes, it’s been that way since it was new.” “Oh” he said. I decided not to bother telling him that the clock was brought home on horseback to a homestead in what would become Minnesota by Susan’s great grandfather. It was used at the time. It hung in their home and then in the home of Susan’s grandparents until it finally came to our home.

It occurred to me that the clerk at the clock shop had no understanding of why we might want to keep a clock that is more than a century old running in our living room. I suspect that he doesn’t have much need for clocks. I noticed he wasn’t wearing a wristwatch even though he worked in a store that sells very nice watches. Like most people his age, I’m sure that he uses his cell phone as his primary timekeeping device.

The cell phone is more accurate than our mechanical wall clock. We’ve had it home for about a week, now and it is running about 5 minutes slow. I’ll tweak it, but in general when I get it within 5 minutes a week, that is close enough for me. Since it has to be wound every week anyway, I don’t mind setting it when I wind it. The chimes let me know the time when I wake in the night. It strikes the hour and half hour.

We also have an even older clock that has to be wound every day. It is a mantle clock and it sits on the shelf in my library. I let it run down when we have guests in the house because it has rather loud and a bit harsh chimes. The mechanism strikes a loop of wire. There were elaborate music boxes in that day, but this clock was a working clock for common people. It needs to be cleaned, too, but it usually makes it more than 5 years between cleanings.

I don’t know how many more generations the clocks will be in the homes of our family. So far, neither of our children has expressed any interest in such old devices. I guess they are a bit of a pain. You have to have them cleaned, and, in some places, it is hard to find a clock repairman who knows how to work on these clocks. It hasn’t been a problem in Rapid City. We like the man who does first rate work on our clocks. When the parts break, he has to make new ones, but he is good at that, and keeps our clocks running nicely. I don’t know for sure, but it seems that they could easily keep going for another century.

I’m thinking that the clock shop clerk probably doesn’t understand the “old” people who come in with their “old” clocks. I really don’t need to impress him or anyone else. They have plenty of new clocks in the shop that cost a lot more than our clock is worth. But their clocks don’t have stories yet and I prefer a clock with a story.

I’m betting that when I left the store, the young man sat down at the computer and entered into it the fact that I picked up the clock. It should be interesting next time I take it in to be repaired. I wonder if that clerk will think we took it in in 2007 and picked it up in 2013.

Time will tell. In the meantime, we tell time by counting the chimes of our clock.

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