YOU
BUILT a wonderful house and now it is time to furnish the interiors.
You bring in exquisite furniture to your living room, a beautifully
designed dining table with chairs for the dining hall, a modular
kitchen, spacious wardrobes and king-size cots in your bedroom
and the like.
Still, you may find something missing from your living room,
which was a part of your life when you were a child. It must have
been an ever-fascinating object during your childhood and its
periodical loud bang would have woken you up many a time from
drowsing when you were reading. Yes, it was the beautiful and
impressive clock that your grandfather had brought home and your
father had preserved.
You go in search of it and may find it difficult to get the one
that your grandfather had. You would get disappointed on seeing
mere replicas of old clocks. On the other hand, antique clocks
are very rare and are too expensive. Thus, your search for genuine
old clocks would bring you to TimeShop at Jayanagar 11th Main.
Imported from Germany
Popularly called grandfather clocks, they are manufactured in
Germany that has been a pioneer in clock industry from ages. Bhoopalam
Ramkumar, proprietor of TimeShop, says that he imports clocks,
right from jewel quality mantle pieces to grandfather clocks,
from Germany and gets the cabinets done at Delhi.
Wooden cabinets
"We get excellent wooden cabinets in Delhi," he says.
They would provide cabinets to suit customers' taste and the interiors
of their houses. TimeShop has been in the field since 1934.
On being asked why did he venture into the sale of the old beauties,
Mr. Ramkumar said it was his hunt for an old clock for his home
that inspired him. Noticing that not many clock shops in Bangalore
offered grandfather clocks, he decided to offer genuine pieces
to those interested.
Individual taste
On being asked how many pieces he sells in a month, he said it
all depends on the taste of customers. All may not have a taste
for Grandfather Clocks, he says. More than the sale of clocks,
after-sales service matters much, he said. The grandfather clocks
are priced between Rs. 24,000 and Rs. 1.5 lakhs.
There is a magnificent clock manufactured by Hermle featuring
a moon phase dial and a large pendulum that runs on weights. Of
the three weights, one is meant for the running of the clock,
one is for the chime once in 15 minutes and the other is for the
hourly strike.
Original position
The weights descend to the bottom of the cabinet once in 15 days
and they have to be restored to the original position by pulling
chains. The moon face dials exhibit the lunar calendar and indicates
full moon and new moon days.
There are a few mantle pieces, which once used to be kept atop
the fire place in the living room.
Run mechanically, they need winding once in a week. This clock
also features a moon phase sans any pendulum.
Pendulum
The collection also features quartz swinging pendulum wall clocks
with 4/4 Westminster chime, half-hour bim bam strike, volume control
and night shout-off; mechanical chain driven grandfather clocks
with half-hour bim-bam strike; contemporary skeleton cable driven
grandfather clocks with 4/4 Westminster chime on bells, night
shut-off; spring driven skeleton table clock with swinging pendulum
and hourly single bell strike; mechanical chain driven grandfather
clocks with 4/4 Westminster chime and manual night shut-off.
