Clock.

[asher553]

Well, nothing lasts forever, and at exactly 8:00 this morning I was winding the antique mantel clock and felt the key suddenly snap out of my hand. I thought at first that the socket had just lost its purchase on the winding stem (a not infrequent occurrence) but no, it quickly became clear that the spring was broken. I was winding the stem on the left, which drives the striker mechanism and is wound independently of the main movement, which you wind from the right-hand stem. So for a few moments I held out some hope that the clock itself might still be operable, albeit with its chimes stilled. But no, it looks like the clock is officially dead, Jim. So I guess the next step is to do a web search on "antique clock repair" and see what comes up. I don't have a lot of extra spending money for something that is not, after all, exactly a strict necessity. But I would like to see if the clock can be gotten ticking again.