clock-winder · 1869 · john parker · clerkenwell
forged brass, hollow shaft, number-six square socket — fitted to the mainspring arbours of the regulator clocks in the town hall, the customs house, and seventeen private libraries on his route. the winder carries it on a leather thong inside the breast pocket, where it warms to body-heat before its work.
once a week he opens the case, sets the bit on the arbour, and turns — slowly, with the wrist, never the shoulder — twenty-eight half-rotations for the going train, twelve for the strike. you wind toward the dial, never away. you stop when the spring resists. a clock over-wound is a clock with its honesty cracked, and may never tick true again.
this one was kept because, when held against the light at the bow, you can see his initials filed faintly into the brass — j p, one above the other, no period. the square socket has worn oval by a sixteenth, which means it remembers all the clocks of the route; new owners cannot help inheriting his small slack.
field-note · count the turns aloud. the clock listens. it likes to be addressed in a number it understands.
key · clockworks · watchmaker · ticking · clock room