When i was a little boy who was in the kindergarten i still remember something that my grandfather always use to say every time he finishes weekly winding-up of the ol' seth thomas clock. "After me, you will inherit this and it will bring you good luck". That was about twenty years ago from the date of this blog post. He was a "Plantation clark" and a "Manager" of the company named "Whittall boustead" which was established in sri lanka during british colonization era. During the shifting of the company, this clock was given to my grandfather by the boss of the company who was a Englishmen as a gift and even at that time it was an antique. From then it was his possession. It was a "Seth Thomas made in USA, Grand Octagon wall clock". Clock worked perfectly fine with a one flaw which could not be repaired. Clock shows perfect time but hourly alarm automatically advances because of a broken wheel. My father says, my grand father tried to get it repaired but he failed because of unavailability of the parts. My grand father fell in to a coma on 2002 and that was the last of him which we knew. He never recovered to his original state of mine after that. It was a time of turmoil in my family and during this time this piece of antique was permanently lost among the sands of time. Grand father passed at the age of 74 on 2006 July from his ill state and coma.
I was looking for this clock all over the place but i could not find it. About four to five months back i was cleaning a whole heap of junk in my parents home and i came across a wooden box, rotted out with termite attack, rain water and all weather hazards. I quickly dragged it out of clatter because it resembled the housing of the clock. I was right, it is the clock, the octagon was broken, glasses are all destroyed. The housing is completely beyond repair. Minute and hour hands were missing, the brass drop is also missing. I quickly recovered the mechanical parts from the housing and on the time that i finished cleaning up the junk pile i have completely recovered all the metal parts of the clock including minute and hour hands, the drop and the engine etc. I was so happy but i was in a huge doubt of getting it restored because it is a piece of antique. I searched for a person who can do this job and i found a good clock-smith in nearby town who specialize in restoring antique clocks but at a very high price. I took the restoration of this clock as my duty because my grand father always use to say that i am the owner of it after him. So i took it to the repairmen and after three months of careful inspection, pain staking re-oiling process, and the hardest of all finding a perfect wheel for hourly alarm which where my grand father failed to do, i manage to restore the Ol' Seth Thomas back to it's original factory state. Today it hangs in my home wall displaying accurate time and hourly alarm with the charm of old world. Most important of all it keeps the Memory of my grand father alive and cherished among us. I am sure wherever he is, he will be happy, rested and may attain Nibbāna.
The picture displays the completely restored "Ol' Seth Thomas Octagon Wall clock".
