I know, I know, I said I'd not write about clocks again but this time I had to. So, what do you think of this one? Well, I don't really care too much what you think, because yesterday my hand, uh, slipped on eBay and I ended up as the winning bidder. Oop! It's from the US so it needs re-wiring to work here but I don't care! It's a good 14.5 inches across, but not too big for our little house. I think I'll leave the enormous 60cm ones for when we get a mansion with high ceilings.
Ever since the clock debacle, I've kept half an eye out looking for a nice vintage wall clock that wasn't too small, nor £200. I already own a cute 1970s Metamec clock from H is for Home, but it's only 20cm across - perfect for my studio, but not nearly beastly big enough to satisfy my current urge.
So I have been watching vintage Smiths Sectric clocks come and go on eBay, some much nicer than others and for decent prices. But this one turned up and it's just that little bit different from owning a Smiths - I don't like to run with the crowd after all. The first one below was 11.5 inches, in good working order and very clean - sold for £82. The second was the same size, not working - sold for £42. I wasn't taken with either enough to buy them.
So what's the big deal about my clock? Pretty red second hand and little red button; curved glass face, perfect patina on the dial (some Smiths clocks are just too clean); sweet little dots to mark the minutes: what's not to love? Fully three inches wider too, and size is everything in this case. And the price? Well, that would be telling, but it was good for me :-)
Whilst I'm indulging myself, I have also coveted one of these telephones for years. It was the exact same model that used to sit in my parents' takeaway when I was little. How sad that we don't have such wonderful dialling mechanisms nowadays? It all has to be touch-tone to enable our interaction with soulless machines on the other end. Someone buy me this to take up too much space on my desk, pretty please? It's a snip at £35!
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Your clock fetish has worn off on me-I bought a fab little gold watch face (£3 from an amazing bead store here) and intend to fix it with some beads to a hair comb. Whether I get round to actually finishing it though...
ReplyDeleteI have to admit it was a necklace in urban outfitters that got me thinking about this. So damn expensive that place though and the stuff often seems badly made.
Hi Kat. You know, I think it must be exactly the same necklace in Urban outfitters that I was writing about in this post (gold, with a bird or something around the watch face?):
ReplyDeletehttp://alternativeeagle.blogspot.com/2009/06/lacking-in-list-and-some-auction-action.html
I was at this antiques fair at the weekend and nearly bought some old watch faces to string onto a necklace, but for some idiot reason I didn't. I think we'd run out of cash :-) They were going for about £5 each - not bad! x
The bead shop also has really cute glass animals that would be sweet as charms.
ReplyDeleteGlasgow has the most amazing shopping. There are tons of vintage shops and the charity shops actually have some good stuff for once too. There are tons of charity furniture shops too.
You and Mark should visit some time before I end up moving again (bit easier to visit than Nigeria!)
Will do! most happily - you will have to take me shopping :-) Probably a bad idea, but fun nevertheless.
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