http://www.onestopclock.com/ Our Blogging Page en-us Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:19:46 MST Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:19:46 MST http://www.onestopclock.com CSB Weblog Generator 1.0 info info http://www.onestopclock.com/blog6765.html#1903 Soviet Nuclear Submarine Clock By Margaret Mauldin On a weekend road trip, over twenty years ago, we saw a sign for Katy and Beas Flea Market. We were just leaving Beaumont, Texas on the way to Houston. We pulled onto a long lane and driveway to an old house with antiques in the yard and on the front porch. We toured the house and in one of the back rooms, we found several boxes of what appeared to be junk. I am not much into junk, but my husband likes to go through boxes. As he dug through one box, he found a round key wind clock with a red star on the face. The ladies at Katy and Beas said the clock had belonged to a relative, but they did not know anything about it. We bought the clock for $10.00 and took it home to see what we could find on the computer about it. We found information that the clock was from a cold war era Soviet nuclear submarine. The bright red star marked the 12 oclock position, while the 6 oclock position was marked by a classic Navy symbol, an anchor. The dial had the image of a nuclear submarine conning tower and dive plane. The bottom of the clock was signed made in U.S.S. R. Upon the demise of the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, a number of so-called Russian submarine clocks were made for the commercial market to be sold for profit. Since this clock was made before that time, it was clear it was an actual Soviet submarine clock that saw military service, dating from the 1960s. The clock, keeping perfect time, hung on our wall from 1987 to 2006, when we sold many of the over 100 clocks we owned. An ad in the newspaper for the clock, brought a buyer to our door. The elderly gentleman drove over 50 miles specifically to buy the submarine clock. He had served on a United States Navy destroyer ship. These ships hunted the Soviet submarines where the clock was hung in the officers quarters. Both of us were happy with the sale. He, to find the Soviet Submarine clock, that brought many memories to him and us to know that someone who connected with the clock owns it and for us to make many times over our $10.00. Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.onestopclock.com/blog6765.html#1903 http://www.onestopclock.com/blog6765.html#1823 In the long history of clock making and time keeping, cuckoo clocks play a large role in the appreciation of art in clocks. As early as 1650, the call of the cuckoo bird in a clock was being heard in parts of East Germany and a region of the Czech Republic. It took nearly a century for the cuckoo clock to find its way to the Black Forest. The cuckoo clock, as we know it, comes from the region in southwest Germany, the Black Forest, where a tradition of clock making started late in the 17th century. The cuckoo clock is a favorite souvenir of travelers in Germany, where there are several different firms making the whole clock or parts of it. The people who make cuckoo clocks are dedicated craftsmen whose products are works of art. The Black Forest people who created, and developed the cuckoo clock industry, still come up with new designs and technical improvements which have made the cuckoo clock a valued work of art all over the world. Black Forest, and Black Forest style-cuckoo clocks command big prices and are highly sought after in antique stores, flea markets and retail shops. They are valuable because of their elaborate hand carvings and unique artistry. The basic cuckoo clock today, is the railway-house (Bahnhausle) form with its rich ornamentation of carved leaves, birds, deer heads and other animals, that have become a symbol of the Black Forest and recognized anywhere in the world. In the present market there are also quartz battery powered cuckoo clocks that produce a digital cuckoo each hour. The call is an actual recording of a cuckoo in the wild. Most cuckoo clocks today are made in the traditional style to hang on a wall in your home or office. The traditional style of the cuckoo clock is a wooden case decorated with carved leaves and animals with an automation of a bird that appears through a small door while the clock is striking. There are two kinds of movements in a cuckoo clock; a one-day movement and an eight-day movement. Some have musical movements and play a tune on a Swiss movement. A cuckoo clock is typically pendulum driven, striking the hour and half hour, using bellows and pipes that imitate the cuckoo call. Todays cuckoo clocks are almost always driven by weights. The weights are made of cast iron in a pine cone shape. Whether as pendants, toys, games, postcards, in movies, music and literature, the cuckoo clock has been or is used in everyday life. Cuckoo clocks are sold for all budgets, from modest pieces with little decoration to colossal works of art which demand high prices. The cuckoo clock is part of our culture and is still one of the most familiar clocks today. Cuckoo clocks make great gifts, souvenirs and timepieces that will add charm and character to any home or office. Cuckoo clocks truly are unique artistic creations. Reference: Wikipedia Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.onestopclock.com/blog6765.html#1823 http://www.onestopclock.com/blog6765.html#1822 The question is WHY CLOCKS? Who needs them? All of us live by natures clock; night into day, day into night with each year bringing the seasons. They persist even when we are cut off from time cues. Into this natural cycle comes the artificial clock. A clock is an instrument for indicating and measuring time. How different our lives would be without the familiar clock dictation of our comings and goings, our work time and leisure, our technology and culture. Without clocks, the multiple activities of our lives would be impossible. The clock is a machine, a man made device with no model in nature. The mechanical clock was developed until an accuracy of a hundredth-of a-second a day was achieved. The central feature of all mechanical clocks is a mechanism which enables a clock to tick off time at minute intervals. For clock specialists, the term clock means exclusively a devise with a striking mechanism for announcing intervals of time acoustically, by ringing a bell, a set of chimes or a gong. Most early mechanical clocks were driven by the fall of weights. The earliest clock had to be as much asnine feet off the ground because they required long pendulums and large cast iron descending weights. These clocks would run for just 12 hours. Later models ran for one day or perhaps 30 hours. The first clocks were made of iron; later brass became the preferred metal, often with thickly gilded dials. Wooden cases were used to hide the unsightly weights and cast iron pendulums. The devices in ancient days were obviously not very accurate, fancy nor portable, but it was a beginning. Much of modern life has come to depend on precise measurements of time and clocks have evolved into works of art. Communication, electric power, manufacturing and financial markets all depend on accurate time pieces. Our concept of time and using it together with technology still has room for re-assessment regarding our journey into the future. When in the market for a clock, you might find yourself spending a lot of time searching for the right style for your home. There are plenty of options available and you can find different looks as well as different sizes for your home or office. Reference: Wikipedia Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.onestopclock.com/blog6765.html#1822