Workshop (1)

次回この記事の日本語版を投稿します。

As mentioned in the previous post I have recently moved and I am currently in the process of getting settled in.  Last week I finally had a small amount of time to turn my attention to starting to unpack bicycle parts. 

Although unpacking bicycle tools, parts, etc., is far more interesting than housewares, it is still labor intensive and time consuming.  However, it is cherry-blossom season here in Japan and the view from inside the workshop affords me the opportunity to enjoy the transient beauty of the cheery-blossoms while working.

As many of you know, besides restoring vintage bicycles I also enjoy restoring old windup or weight driven clocks.  The photo below is yours truly about 15 years back. Unfortunately, starting two years ago in preparation for moving I slowly began down-sizing and have parted with nearly all of my collection.

To me, each room should have a mechanical clock, as the gentle rhythmical tick-tock of a mechanical clock is the heartbeat of a room.  Thus, the first order of business is to find a heart for the workshop.  I started looking online and picked up the broken clock below.

The face reads "KAWASUMI Bicycle" and under the six "Made in Occupied Japan". 
So it was manufactured between 1945-1952; thereby making it roughly 65-70 years old.



Broken clocks are always a risk as typically one cannot see the condition of the movement.  Sometimes people try to fix them and in the process destroy them.  Fortunately for me nobody had messed with it and it was a quick fix, didn't even have to replace any parts, just a cleaning and adjustment.

Like old bicycles, old clocks too will outlive their owner.  The beauty is that they are made of real materials, no synthetic materials like artificial or "imitation" wood from synthetic polymers.  Simply genuine wood, glass, brass, steel and tin.  And because they are made of real materials, over time they age and develop character.

There she is. The heart of the workshop, ready for another 70 or more years.