by Mike Bond

Created on: December 10, 2009   Last Updated: April 19, 2011

The afternoon summer sunshine was blotted out as the furniture removers strained and struggled with the enormous French longcase clock.  The movement had been taken out of the cabinet, as had the weights and pendulum, of course. Nevertheless, the cabinet by itself was still extremely heavy.

The house in which the clock was to be placed was blessed with ceilings of at least fourteen feet in height.  Magnificent crystal chandeliers ran the length of the great room, at one time lit by candles, but now electricity had taken the place of wax and since the restorers had the pieces in their possession, they decided to carry out repair work on some of the bulb holders, as well as doing a superb job of gilding the crystal framing.  The inside of the cabinet was excellently yet subtly lit.  It showed up the twin mercury pendulum jars and the three heavy drive weights.  The lights were set so that they shone from all four corners of the inside of the cabinet.

Accompanying the restorers  was the master clockmaker who was responsible for levelling the cabinet, hanging the weights and pendulum, adjusting the internal lights, polishing the case and placing the finials in the correct position.

The date was the 1920's, but the clock itself dated back to around 1790.  The movement maker was the great Breguet, who'd made haste to Switzerland to escape the Revolution.  The clock was rescued by its French owners in about 1910 and safely transported to the present house, now that all the tumult and the shouting had died.

Two unfortunate incidents marked the adventures of the clock.  Both the owner and his son, immensely wealthy aristocrats, were  dispossessed of their heads, while the female members of the family, thankfully, were able to make clean get-aways.

The clock had been housed at the premises of the restorers and while no-one had mentioned it, the head of the firm to the lad who swept up at the end of the day were all relieved to see the departure of the piece. Things - happened.  Nothing upon which one could hang one's hat, as it were.  The clock would shift, seemingly, every now and again.  When work finished for the night, the clock would be in a certain place.  The following morning, however, it seemed to have developed  a mind of its own and moved half way across the room.

Other silly little incidents would happen.  It would stop of its own volition - and then start up again.  It would

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