<h1>Antique Chime Clocks</h1>

What You Need To Know About Antique Chime Clocks Perhaps you received a Grandfather clock as an inheritance.   Or perhaps you want to collect an antique art form that does something more than just look pretty.  Or perhaps you found a broken antique chime clock and wonder if it’ll ever chime again.  There are as many reasons people want antique chime clocks as there are people.

What They Are

Antique chime clocks need to be at least fifty years old in order to be considered an antique.  Some places in America consider anything over twenty-five years antique or “classic”, but it’s usually fifty.  In Europe, antique chime clocks are “antique” after 100 years have gone by since it was made.  They were made in America and Europe.

Antique chime clocks don’t just tick and BONG out the hour.  They also do tunes, sometimes on the hour, sometimes on the quarter hour.  Many popular tunes in antique chime clocks are Westminster Bells, Ave Maria and Parsifal.  Working chime clocks are obviously worth much more than broken antique chime clocks.  They can be small mantle clocks or huge Grandfather floor-to-ceiling behemoths.  They usually cost thousands and need to be treated like a Ming vase.

How Much Is This Worth?

The National Association Watch and Clock Collectors (yes, they exist) is loaded with all sorts of information about how to tell a genuine clock from a fake, what is for sale and the current value of antique chime clocks.  There are also many clock collectors on line that have whole websites devoted to their passion.  They are valuable reference tools for identifying your clock.  Another valuable reference tool is a website called ArlingtonBooks.com.

Most reputable antique chime clock dealers will not sell on online auction sites like eBay.  You have to find them through antique magazine publications or through an online search engine.  There are just too many chances of being scammed for such high-priced items to risk an online auction house. Antique chime clocks are usually watermarked by the dealer as being genuine and need to have special shipment.  Also, many reputable antique dealers will give references and show you what member ships they are proud members of.  You can also ask the Better Business Bureau if your chosen clock dealer has ever been in trouble.

Parts houses for broken antique chime clocks do exist, and they are expensive.  But the artistry of restoring clocks is alive and well in the Western World.