Let’s begin by saying we think our clock has a very storied
past and we have only been the keepers for the last 10 or so years. Hopefully one day we will find more about it
but for now we are content to wind it every Sunday and display it in Sari
Timur’s main salon.
The clock was given to us for Christmas one year by Chis
Nunns, the current caretaker of a beautiful Phillip Rhodes Offshore 40 built in
the early 60s called Valera Linda. He
inherited the clock when he bought the boat.
When we were in Changi our two boats were the classic looking ones and
we always competed and helped each other with regards to keeping the yachts up
to scratch. His was always faster but
ours was prettier (sorry Chris had to get that in). Anyway one day we were on his boat and he
said in frustration it was a funny clock and he was going to be rid of it. I told him no it was a classic and belonged
on a boat of our types. He took my
advice for another couple of years but then decided to pass the clock on to us
as a Christmas present. I do not know
when the clock got on board Valera Linda or if she was the first vessel it was
on. It is a 24 hour navy clock. It takes a little getting used to telling
time with it but is quite accurate at keeping it. The hour hand makes one trip around every 24
hours and the minute and second hands work as normal. The large numbers are the hours, the small
numbers on the outside of the dial are in 5 minute graduations and the inner
ring is 0-60 seconds. It is really not
difficult to use and the picture below shows the time at just after 10:15 in
the morning.
Anyway, after having the clock for many years it decided to
quit. I took it to clock workers in
various places and found out it had a broken spring and needed a major service
which they couldn’t do. So in
frustration I looked up Chelsea Clock out of Boston and found they still exist
and repair these time pieces but advertise that they do not do it quickly. Ours took 8 weeks to get repaired! Anyway after I sent it I got the estimate for
repair back at just over $400. I gulped
but said go ahead. By the way what is it
worth? They replied they just sold a
similar one with a white face at $875 and ours having a black face was worth at
least $975. I bet you are sorry you gave
it away now aren’t you Chris? Of course
you saved the repair bill. Anyway the
repairers say that it will last a long
long time and guarantee it as new.
As we are now in our fifties it is nice to know some old machinery is
still capable of running well
 |
| Just past 10:15 in the morning |
hey Mark, good to see your face again, even if it is only a reflection in the million dollar clock. You did not wear a t-shirt, did you? Cheers, Toby
ReplyDeleteA little bit late to comment, but here goes..
ReplyDeleteThe previous owner of Velera Linda was a retired US Air Force pilot and I've always assumed he picked up the clock cheaply from US military surplus. Being a Brit, I always felt a bit uncomfortable with this military hardware staring down at me! More seriously, it's a large and rather dark clock face which did nothing to brighten the cramped cabin of Velera Linda.
It's interesting to note, though, that the black painted rim is far more practical at sea than the usual lacquered brass - we all know how that looks after a while..
I'm delighted that Mark and Pauline have 'done the right thing', even though the repair bill could have paid for a small chart plotter!
Happy memories of our time at Changi..
Chris
Hey Chris we really need to fix this blog so we get alerts when a comment is posted to an older post. If you wouldn't have told me last night who knows how many more months before I saw your comment. Anyway great seeing the old Changi gang last night. And yes we made it to the airport this morning!
Deletethe clock came from q world war 2 sunken naval ship off pearl harbor
ReplyDelete