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Its important that we record the history of these fine clocks, without it they just become examples of a certain type of clock. We are lucky, in that, with electric clocks some may have been in service until very recently. Record it, a clock with a known history is worth more than one which is lost. If you have not got any history, start it now! Put a piece of paper in the clock so when it passes from one owner to another the details are added. This may at some point, through a process of elimination, lead to the discover of the clocks path, the bigger the gap in time the bigger the assumptions that have to be taken.
Its important to record the clock in the club as well. This is progressing well and allows research to be conducted. Beware of people that want to do research but don’t share the details. The aim is to make these records open, obviously with personal information about the whereabouts of the clock protected. This way all researchers can look at the data and we can even get to a position where we can test the research data. This may lead to your clock being identified, in that the first owner, after the clock is un-installed, is generally close to the place it did its service. Lucky for us they are heavy items and this generally limits the first ownership. If put then on ebay they could end up anywhere.
What might be seen as an old scrap of paper might result in further investigation. The holy grail is the sales ledgers. We have been informed from a person in Dartmouth that the gents ledgers still exist. If you have these details then you can bring back the history of a clock and makes somebody’s day. Why not share them and give respect to the clocks history. Most master clocks have a serial number which we are able to date the clock from. Various graphs are stored in the club pages for this purpose. We need this to be extended to Brillie and other European clocks. Its important that we put clock and history together before this is lost in time.
If you are the buyer or seller of a clock then it makes sense to record information about them in the clubs databases. Also for members to open up other databases for other clocks manufacturers. For those that have done research in isolation surely we are duty bound to publish the databases of information we have, for the good of the clocks? It takes very little time to do this and you can import data very easily into these spreadsheets on the club sites. If you have not got the time why not email it to the group and let somebody else do the data entry?
Please please, don’t throw the paperwork away with your clock. Very few have ownership paperwork so ownership is not a problem, as most where simply thrown away by the caretakers of the system. If you have paperwork then why not get it scanned and added to the communities information pool.
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