Why is it so hard to get reliable clocks these days?
Not all that long ago two of the main products sold by jewellers were clocks and watches.
Despite the fact that they mostly used what we would now consider obsolete technologies - mechanical ones, often based on springs - great effort was put into making them reliable.
So much so that the word "clockwork" entered the English language as a metaphor for something reliable which goes exactly according to plan. There can be no greater accolade for the professionalism of the people who used to make clocks that even today we still speak of something as having worked "with clockwork precision" or having "gone like clockwork" to indicate that it went off perfectly.
So why on earth are all the clocks you get in shops these days such unreliable rubbish?
(I would have used a much ruder expression but I try to keep the language on this blog suitable for a family audience.)
I think that what's happened is that these days a high proportion of the population - though not everyone - carries a smart phone or at least some kind of mobile phone, and our phones display the time, so we do not need clocks or watches.
So clocks are sold by a range of shops not as timepieces but decorations - and almost all of them, including those sold by middle-of the range and even upmarket shops, have the same cheap mechanisms bought from some sweatshop, probably in a country where the workers are paid less than a pound an hour.
The shops selling these cheap or decorative clocks as decorations have destroyed most of the volume which might otherwise have been available to the people making reliable clocks.
Yes, this is an example of the free market not working very well. No, an economy run by the government would not have done any better - indeed they probably would have done worse.
But I for one am done with buying clocks as decorations, even expensive ones - I have this old-fashioned prejudice for having clocks on the wall but I also have a preference for ones which show the right time.
Next time I buy a clock I will seek out a proper jeweller or specialist clockmaker who makes clocks which actually work.
Despite the fact that they mostly used what we would now consider obsolete technologies - mechanical ones, often based on springs - great effort was put into making them reliable.
So much so that the word "clockwork" entered the English language as a metaphor for something reliable which goes exactly according to plan. There can be no greater accolade for the professionalism of the people who used to make clocks that even today we still speak of something as having worked "with clockwork precision" or having "gone like clockwork" to indicate that it went off perfectly.
So why on earth are all the clocks you get in shops these days such unreliable rubbish?
(I would have used a much ruder expression but I try to keep the language on this blog suitable for a family audience.)
I think that what's happened is that these days a high proportion of the population - though not everyone - carries a smart phone or at least some kind of mobile phone, and our phones display the time, so we do not need clocks or watches.
So clocks are sold by a range of shops not as timepieces but decorations - and almost all of them, including those sold by middle-of the range and even upmarket shops, have the same cheap mechanisms bought from some sweatshop, probably in a country where the workers are paid less than a pound an hour.
The shops selling these cheap or decorative clocks as decorations have destroyed most of the volume which might otherwise have been available to the people making reliable clocks.
Yes, this is an example of the free market not working very well. No, an economy run by the government would not have done any better - indeed they probably would have done worse.
But I for one am done with buying clocks as decorations, even expensive ones - I have this old-fashioned prejudice for having clocks on the wall but I also have a preference for ones which show the right time.
Next time I buy a clock I will seek out a proper jeweller or specialist clockmaker who makes clocks which actually work.
Comments
I have a Kinetic wristwatch bought for my 18th birthday, still wear it and have done pretty much everyday since, its going strong and I'm 44. You can still buy same today for around £100
Like this
clocks always were more expensive but here is a classic mantel clock just like the good ol days
Mantel clock
or
heres a nice mechanical wall clock
[Interest declared, I have PTSD] Though I was very very disapointed that the governement slashed the funding for Combat Stress. A service (mainly charity funded though government contributed) that was fantastasic in its help to service men and women who were suffering PTSD. Due to its overall funding being now £10m from £16m they are unable to take on new cases. The NHS often referred vets to combat stress, it was their go to option following first step.