Restoring A Large Antique Clock Over 100 Years Old

Got some weight to it Tony. Well they say if it's heavy it's good quality. It's all pine, it's heavy grade pine. 1860, 1870. It's certainly got a gothic revival feel about it. Lovely columns at the side. It's a one-off made for somewhere particular. A town hall or I mean it could be a station clock. It's definitely for outside because look at the state of it. It's just a lovely looking thing. It's got a lot missing. I mean luckily we've got all the roof but we're missing the door. Missing the door. And it's missing a plinth isn't it? It's missing some feet. Have you had a look inside? You know I had this out. There's no maker's mark but it's as rough as it comes. Climbing. Clockmaker might be our helpers. It's obviously been in a barn for 100 years probably or 50 years. You do think of. You know I think it'd look great with a little shingles roof on wouldn't it? Little wooden tiles look amazing on there. Absolutely with you on that one. Love it. Love it. Let's just keep its integrity. I mean this is this whole history of its life here. A nice domed glass and it would be good wouldn't it? You could find something like that. Yeah that would be amazing. If Alex can lock in the age and the distress and the 140, 50 years of its life and get that finished just so. I mean what a timepiece. What a fantastic decorated piece. Value wise? I mean five grand. Exciting project. It is exciting. Well done. Good luck. Good to see you again brother. See you soon. This is by far the biggest clock I've ever worked on. It's enormous. There are a lot of tough elements on this job. It's going to take some work but I think what we're left with at the end is going to be mighty impressive. Alex's first job is to shore up the rickety clock by fitting a new plinth around the base. Now this is the piece of timber I think I'll make my plinth out of. Good chunky solid piece of mahogany. I think we'll do something nice and decorative. If I do this properly I'll be able to stand the clock up. It'll stop it rocking and it means I can crack on with the rest of the restoration. The mahogany is cut to size on the table saw. Then Alex needs to plan how he will joint the pieces together. Now that I've cut my blocks to the right length I need to put a 45 on. What that 45 will do, when it fits to the clock I can stick a block onto it for some additional decoration. Now I can see on the piece of wood that given the whole scale of it my blade can't reach all the way through. So all I'm going to use a hand saw to finish off that cut, use the 45 that the machinist set as my guide and I'll have a nice accurate angle. If Alex has got his angles spot on the pieces of timber should fit seamlessly together. Now this is the beginning of my plinth and you can see now when I put them together and this is a nice flat face here I've cut blocks to size. When they're put in place basically we've got a plinth that comes around and wraps around. The blocks are glued in place and once set it's time to finish the plinth with a period stepped moulding which will match the rest of the clock. Now we've got our plinth basically I'm going to run the router around it give it a lovely detail. I just hope it looks right because once it's gone round it's taken that timber away you can't stick it back on. Now I've taken a mirror off the wall leaving a very blank space but it's all for the cause. I've got a lovely piece of convex mirror here I'll use chemicals to strip off that mirror I'll be left with a lovely piece of convex glass which can build that door around. First Alex strips the paint from the rear of the mirror. He then applies metal polish removing the reflective surface to reveal the clear glass behind. It's slowly making its way through the problem is this glass is delicate and I don't want to break it. I am chuffed with that. Now I need to build a frame for this and making a round frame is quite difficult but I've been so lucky when I hold this up to my clock it's a perfect fit. I'm going to cut this decoration off and use the back of this frame as the base for my new frame then build a new piece on the front fit the glass in and we're off. The mirror surround features a decorative plaster relief which Alex removes. It's just a matter of being patient making my way around with a chisel free hand and just get it to the right shape course it needs a bit of tidying up afterwards but that's to be expected. Next the clear piece of glass is set back into the frame using a hard setting filler. What I'm trying to do here is build a sort of a bridge across to where the domed glass meets the the same level as the frame. Alex must be careful not to crack the delicate convex glass. Once the filler has gone off Alex's final step is to create decorative panelling for the front of the door using veneers. I'll use the clock as my template for the shape I need to cut with my craft knife. Start nice and light and then as you feel the knife start to follow and get into that groove you can increase the pressure without the risk of breaking it. The veneer sections are carefully glued into place. Now the most important thing here as I go around like this is that I keep my circle shape I don't want it to start looking like an egg shape. And what started as a decorative mirror is beginning to take shape as a clock door. It's round and it's complete. A bit of sanding and a bit of finishing on that and that'll be ready to go on. When he last visited Alex's workshop Tony Gearing left him with a huge challenge in the form of a large station clock which was in a terrible state. Today he's back to collect it. When I first saw it I was like wow what is that? I mean it's a giant clock. It's just such a statement piece. So hopefully Alex has put this all back together and we'll find a giant who loves it. Alex. Tony. How are you mate? Good to see you again. You'll never guess what's under here. Shall we have a look? I'd love to see it yes please come on. Oh my word what a fantastic job. It's got the wow factor it is such a cranky clunky old sort of Frankenstein grandfather clock. Yeah I agree that's why when I've done the work on it I've gone with that style. Everything oversized everything a little bit chunky. Oh wow the finish is amazing. The bulk of it's original just clean and waxed. Just looks super. When it arrived this once grand clock was in a sorry state. Its mechanism was broken and the wooden body was wobbly and tired. Alex has crafted a new plinth a convex glass door and topped it off with a tiled roof. Horologist Paul got the movement working again and now it keeps time just as accurately as when it was first made. Hang about what where did you get this? At this moment of inspiration looked up on my wall where I've got all these convex mirrors. Love it. The silver came off nicely I used the original mirror frame. Okay. Re-veneered it to match. If you give this a. Oh look at that. That's just lovely isn't it. It's been off to horologist Paul and he's just cleaned the thing got it all working it's completely smooth. You know it's that it's that lovely sound where you can just sort of sit back and relax in your armchair after Sunday dinner and yeah slowly nod off. Nice lazy tick. I mean that's a great selling point isn't it. The movement's working tickety top tickety top and the statement I was hoping for the kind of wow factor. He's pulled it off again that boy can work the magic he surely can. I remember this being cheap wasn't it? 200 pound box of firewood but because it's such a grand stately thing I thought well you know five grand. I mean if you want a big grandfather clock where are you going to find one? You'll look forever. God another fine mess I got you into that you've got yourself out of again. Well done brother. I can't get it in the van at the minute. I'll pop round in the morning. You're about in the morning. I'll get it wrapped up for you. Oh Alex breathtaking. You just I don't know every time you blow me away. Thanks man. Whenever you're doing anything creative everybody has their doubts. You always wonder whether it's good enough whether the look is there whether it's just too unique. When you've got someone with Tony's caliber who's got an amazing eye for detail who understands his furniture like nobody else that's just great praise.