There is a special Old World charm about pendulum wall clocks. Their classic looks and understated elegance recall a more refined age, when ladies wore white gloves and men donned fedora hats – think of those old black-and-white movies with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. The pendulum clock, measuring out the time in steady, hypnotic beats, seems to echo a bygone era when time seemed to go by more slowly and life was simpler.
Pendulum wall clocks may seem like a bit of a throwback, maybe even an anachronism, in this digital age of super accurate atomic clocks, but still they retain a certain romantic, beguiling appeal.
Its origins come from the sciences: the famous astronomer, physicist and mathematician Galileo Galilei observed a lamp suspended from a long chain and found that each swing was equal and had a natural rate of motion. Galilei died before he could devise a pendulum wall clock that incorporated his discovery, but in the mid-1600s, a Dutch man named Christian Huygens took on the task and increased the now vintage clocks accuracy by adding a minute hand to the clock movement.
Since then, clock-making has evolved, resulting in three main types of pendulum wall clocks that are still used today.
The key wound pendulum wall clocks are powered by gravity. The weights on the pendulum fall off or are pulled down after about a week, and need to be wound back up to their original position by a key or a chain. These are still believed to be the one of the most accurate old clocks around. There is something delightfully quaint about this particular antique clock and the ritual of winding it week after week.
Less expensive than the key wound types is the spring driven pendulum wall clock. This contains two or three wound springs that power the gears to make the clock mechanism function. The absence of the weights means less space, which makes for smaller size. This clock mechanism quickly gained popularity over its predecessor due to its smaller size and relative affordability.
Pendulum wall clocks are available in modern guise, to fit in with any decor.
However, if you want the style and sophistication of a pendulum wall clock minus the hassle of having to wind it each week – after all, who has time to do that these days? – you do have the option of having a pendulum wall clock that looks old-fashioned on the outside, but fitted out with all the modern conveniences of the digital age. The quartz pendulum wall clock is battery-operated; a pulsing magnetic field drives the pendulum, and the batteries have to be replaced only about once a year. This latest iteration comes with several enhancements, including musical chimes or melodies that may be played every hour, on the hour. Even the volume can be adjusted with the quartz clock movement, which means no one in your household is going to be woken up in the middle of the night due to some too-loud chimes.
If you want an antique wall clock for your home, look into these vintage pendulum wall clock gems. Hyper-accuracy may be prized above all, especially when it comes to keeping time, but sometimes we need a bit of that Old World charm too, to remind us that we need to relax, slow down, and listen to the reassuring tick-tock of time passing by.
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