Treasure of the Week: Grandpa’s vintage 60s alarm clock

I’ve shared previously about my vintage Shanghainese watches, a pair of charming but rather high maintenance accessories which need to be wound up every day. Today, I am going to write about an even more charming (at least to me), but equally as demanding time-keeping device: my grandfather’s vintage 60s alarm clock.

The 6:30am alarm

Before the age of 10, I lived with my grandparents in Chengdu, a populous but relaxed city in the centre of China known for its panda population. And for as far back as I can remember, our family was woken up every morning in our small two-room flat by this vintage 60s alarm clock.

The clock sat on the middle shelf in the outer side of the kitchen, which is a rather strange spot now that I think about it. Just above the shelf that held my grandpa’s tea thermos, our toothbrushes, toothpaste, and some tall bottles of condiments.

Every morning the alarm would go off at 6:30, and grandpa would get up to switch it off. Then once he had gotten a head start on his morning routine, grandma would wake me up, and I would wash my face and gurgle salt water to get started on my day. Many mornings when the weather was good I would also go outside for a walk with grandpa, and sometimes we would join a group of other old folks from the neighbourhood to do Taichi.

Every night after dinner, fruit, the nightly TV news, homework and some reading, and as I washed and got ready for bed, grandpa would wind up the clock and set the alarm for the next day.

Day in and day out, this vintage 60s alarm clock accompanied us. Layers of grease from the kitchen accumulated all around the glass face edge and the crevices of the green enamel.

Bringing the clock home

After I moved to Australia at the age of 10, mum and I only stayed with my grandparents again briefly several times before they also moved out of the flat. Grandma was quite ill at the time, so they took very few of their non-essential belongings with them, leaving behind many items from my childhood.

Mum and I returned to the flat several years after they left it empty, and this clock was one of the things that I brought back with me. It had stopped working by that time, but still had the same greasy look from my memories.

Through all those years I never learnt to use the clock, maybe because I was a kid at the time and wasn’t allowed to play with it. But I don’t know what any of the knobs do, and when I tried to turn some of them after I brought the clock back, they refused to budge. There was a time a few years ago when I came home to a loud “tick tock” and found it suddenly working, but that was very short lived and stopped by the next day.

Well, it’s not the prettiest vintage 60s alarm clock, but it’s the closest to my heart.