Remember that broken New Haven clock I found on eBay? It's been almost six months and I finally took it apart to see what's wrong with it! It's all a part of my journey to become a junkmaster and it looks like I'm one step closer! Because I fixed it!I know, I'm as shocked as you are. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit this, but when I first opened it up, I thought "Oh, no wonder it's not working! There's no electrical cord to plug it in!" Yes, sadly, that's how little I knew about clock repair.
And as I write this, I really don't know anything more about clock repair. But I did manage to get this little guy working again! Here's how:
I found a tiny screwdriver in the kitchen and removed the back. Inside I found a cockroach egg, some dust, rust, and gears. I was so happy to see gears!
I checked out a book from the library that proved to be completely useless. As I started reading it, it was referring to terms that I didn't feel like googling. So as I explain how I fixed the clock, I won't be using any proper clock-repairing terms.
I noticed that there were different gears inside and a spring. Everything looked filthy so I grabbed a can of WD-40 and sprayed the gears. I figured WD-40 usually helps every piece of junk so why not.
Here's where it gets technical, but I can't explain it. Since I didn't bother to read the clock repair book or even google clock repair, I'm making up my own technical terms. After coating everything in magical WD-40, I moved the "seconds-gear" (the gear that I think has 60 little bumps to represent seconds) and the "winder" (the key in the back of the clock that winds the clock).
I know what you're thinking... dang Leslie is so smart! But it wasn't easy, folks. It took about 30 minutes of tilting my head in every angle and biting my tongue to finally accidentally figure it out by moving what I call the "seconds-gear" and the "winder." I actually jumped in my seat when it started ticking! I didn't believe it at first, so I sat and watched it for 30 minutes.
When I woke up the next morning, the clock was still keeping time! By mid-afternoon, though, it was behind a few minutes. I wound it again and it started to keep time for another day.
By the third day, I was losing it. The tick of this clock really tocks! I couldn't escape it. In the kitchen, I could hear the clock ticking over the running water in the faucet. Upstairs, I could hear it over the bathroom fan. When I was watching Jeopardy, it felt like final jeopardy the entire episode. The anxiety of this tick tock was starting to drive Pete and me mad. I had trouble concentrating on simple tasks like singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to Lucy. I felt a lot of anxiety because the clock was a constant reminder that I was aging. That Lucy was growing too fast.
So on the third day, I stopped the clock. My heart was finally beating at its own pace and not the pace of the clock's. My thoughts were coming back. I didn't feel trapped in a really bad game of Scattegories anymore.
But here's proof that I really did fix the clock. That it lived for three days and that it has hope of living again someday. But right now it will be a pretty little piece of quiet junk to display on my desk.
Junkmaster update: the clock is ticking! from Leslie Mojeiko on Vimeo.
