When I was cleaning out my grandparents’ house after their deaths I discovered that they seemed to have a real penchant for clocks. There were mantel clocks, wall clocks, and even two grandfather clocks that of course I had know where there, but to which I had scarcely paid any attention.
This got me to thinking about the role of the clock in the home. Certainly when people first began buying clocks for use in their homes there were considered luxury items because of their price; but they also served a purpose. There was no getting the time from the television, by a glance at a cell phone, by a computer screen; the clocks that were in our home were there for a number of reasons, not the least of which was telling us the time.
Today, of course, the need for clocks as a real functional item in the home has decreased drastically. With all the technology at our fingertips it is no longer necessary to have clocks for the sheer purpose of function. But yet they continue to be a fixture in the American home – not just for their functional purposes which have become rather secondary in the modern home but more so for the style they bring to a room.
The modern clock retailer makes this shift perfectly clear as clocks of all kinds – in all styles and made from all materials – can be purchased online; accessories to support the décor of a particular room or of a home at large.