An Ordeal with my Grandfather clock

by John Marina
(Ottawa, Canada)

I bought Kieninger Grandfather Clock in 1960 from Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a family business where they import the clocks and build the casings for it using Rosewood and Teakwood to the Danish style. Mine clock is rosewood (I am told palisander)?

I carried the clock to Beirut, Lebanon, erected it and it became a show to my friends and visitors.

The chime is Big Ben and I wind by lifting the weights manually.

Following the war in Lebanon I carried the machine in my luggage to Cyprus then to Greece, then to London and finally to Ottawa, Canada, the casing travelled by ship.

In Ottawa I placed the clock inside the casing and it worked perfectly well and was in excellent condition. The Pendulum is a thin stick attached to a round brass moon.

Following my divorce I transported it to Montreal, Canada and erected it in my new home. I enjoyed the chime as took me back to the Beirut and Copenhagen days.

Following my retirement I returned to Ottawa, but my wife would not take the chime sound during the night where I enjoyed listening to it day and night.

Now it is sitting idle in our living room. It looks very new since I took great care of it.

In Montreal, I had a problem with a part which it is not available in Canada and the USA. Kieninger in Germany where kind enough to send the Parts Manual, I picked up the Part No. and they were generous to send me a new part without charge.

The only difficulty I had with it, it is that it is difficult to balance it correctly on carpeted floors. A German friend of mine in the grandfather clock business came over and balanced it for me.

I wonder how much this clock is worth.