Comtoise clock - My family member

It is only when my favourite client called that I realised how closely connected we remain to what we have repaired. It feels as if all the clocks that have passed through my hands are part of my family. This client is a favourite of mine for a variety of reasons. He is erudite and speaks such beautiful English. That certainly endears him to me, or is it me to him?

His clock was the first mechanical clock I repaired for a client in my career which must create a special bond. The client proved elated with the report I produced when I brought the clock back. He showed it to his wife and friends. I know this, because I was there hanging the clock back in its case when this all happened. It made me feel particularly important when he introduced me to his friend as "my friend the professional clockmaker".

The clock in question happened to be a Comtoise. The client told me how he had purchased the clock in an antique shop in France and how the owner of the shop had told him the story of how Comtoise clocks were produced and sold by itinerant salesmen who carried a frame on their back into which several Comtoise clocks would fit. They would walk to the next village and start selling them. The pendulums would be folded on their back. Hence we still see Comtoise clocks with pendulums that fold into several pieces of about 20cm each. Once a clock would be sold, the wandering salesman would walk with the client to the nearest blacksmith to get the weights made then and there. It being impossible, of course, to take the weights for nine clocks or so along on your back.

Comtoise (or also called Morbier) clock

I had never touched a Comtoise clock but had heard my co-students on the clock course at West Dean College talk with respect about these French clocks. I was amazed how different they were from the inside from the clocks I had been working on until then. I began to love the Comtoise design and its well established "tick" and loud bell. We became good friends: the clock, the client and I.

I give a 6 months guarantee on my work and it was therefore with mixed feelings that I heard my Comtoise client ring on Saturday morning clearly with pain in his voice. Would his wife have died? Not so. His clock has stopped and could I come please to have a look? The warranty period had elapsed but still it hurts your pride to have a client tell you that a clock you worked on has come to a halt. I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about the clock. What can it be that stopped it? I had thoroughly checked everything and then tested it for two weeks before handing it back?

He called me again this morning saying he noticed how the minute hand had become entangled with the calendar hand and how he had managed to disentangle them. The clock was working fine again and I did not need to come.

End good, all good. It would have been nice, though, to see the clock again.