text: Feelings about clock repair captured in 3 minute video | NAWCC Forums
  I really like this three minute video about clock repair for both technical and emotional reasons. It shows Dorian Clair, 68, taking apart and cleaning a clock made in about 1808-1810. We get to see Dorian's shop and a bunch of his clocks and the process of taking them apart and cleaning them and putting them back together again. Dorian has been working on clocks since he was 8, so for 60 years. He laments that these clocks used to be worth a fair bit of money but no longer are because nobody wants them. He thinks that once he is done repairing the clock he is working on, it will work without problems for about another ten or fifteen years, by which time both he and the clock's owner will likely be dead. He laments that the next person to work on this clock will try to fix it without taking the movement apart which will result in rust and the end of the clock.
  Dorian Clair, an antique clock repairer, explains the process of cleaning an antique clock at his shop in San Francisco.
  I have my own opinion about ammoniated clock cleaner.
  What is that opinion? Do you think that there is something better?
  Yes i dont believe ammonia is really needed. I use Deox 007 made by Polychem, i think its a much better choice.
  my next order will probably be the polychem, which seems to be highly recommended.
  in the meantime, though, the thread is about both dorian (who i know, and whose shop i've been in) and the poignancy of thinking about what will happen to our clocks... ALL clocks... when we're gone, or down the road.
  i love my clocks. i love winding them every tuesday morning. knowing that they will be safe while with me is one of the few pleasures available in these difficult times... but i know my sister will hate me when i'm gone and she has to deal with them all, and i worry that not all of them will make it.
  dorian has taken on an assistant, who is younger than we are (making an assumption, there)... in addition to being a fine clockmaker/repairer he also happens to be an excellent bass player (upright).
  one of my personal goals is to get everyone to post as many photos as they can here, so we can keep growing the incredible historical/horological archive that is the message board.
  Reactions: Schatz70, musicguy, Kevin W. and 1 other person
  I am glad Dorian does clock repair. And he has taken on a assistant. Hoping too more he does is shared.
  I am like you Bruce. In these times we are facing now, my clocks do give me so much comfort and i enjoy when i have time to de repairs on them.
  I like it. I hope I'm still doing this in 30 years.
  Makes me feel better as well. I've been embarrassed about how much clock and watch stuff I have in my work room since a couple people said they'd never leave their timepiece with someone who had such "clutter". Lol
  Heh. When I started my apprenticeship, I asked a similar question and was told, "Yes. Every time there is a gap in the workload things get cleaned up but in the meantime you and I only need a square foot of space each that is clean".
  Reactions: Kevin W. and D.th.munroe
  Unfortunately i have clutter too. Something i am always working on, reduce clutter and be better organized.
  i view 'clutter' as 'everything but clock parts and tools'.
  I met Dorian once, as I was walking down Market Street to the Samuels clock. He was working on it, trying to repair vandalism – yet again. That poor clock has been wrecked so many times, you almost feel as though it should have a bodyguard. Anyway, we introduced ourselves and chatted for a few minutes about the clock, and I headed on to other things. It's a shame some people seem able to do nothing but destroy.