What time is it?

By now you should all know what this means.

Heads up

I've got a couple really cool things to share with you tomorrow, but I just wanted to give you all a quick heads up.  They're doing another sale today.

I know.  I know.  Two sale alert posts in one week is a little much, but these things tend to go fast and they are great bargains compared to the others that you'll find online.

They've also got a new repro of the spike clock that I've never seen before.  The regular versions have stained/painted wood spikes, which I assume are oak or another cheap wood.  This new one is somewhat more expensive, but is constructed of solid walnut, which looks to give it a really nice color and grain.  It's definitely worth a look.

Check them out here.

I swear, I'm not sponsored by Verichron

By now you probably know what one of these boxes means.  It's time for another George Nelson replica clock!

Special Delivery

We here at Mid-Century Midwest are not frequent mail recipients.  Oh, we get the occasional coupon pack, credit application, or bill, but the whole of my inbound correspondence generally goes straight to the recycling bin.  So when a package arrives, it's almost like Christmas.  What could be inside?!

Well, this looks promising.

Ta-da!  It's another Verichron replica George Nelson clock.  Yes, I've already got a few of these hanging around, but who couldn't use some more George Nelson goodness in their life?  I certainly can't get enough.

The starburst replicas are especially well-built, with a thick, powder-coated face (no plastic here),  stained wood arms, and the proper dimensions.  One would be hard-pressed to find any major differences between them and the official Vitras, which will set you back 5+ times as many bones.

So, that's one more for the collection.  Next up on my dream clock purchase list: a replica George Nelson 30" turbine clock.  That's gonna take a little savin'.

It's here! It's here!

It's finally here!

Dana over at Mid2Mod and I both ordered replica Howard Miller by George Nelson spindle clocks (Model No. 2239) from The Foundry way back on October 10th.  The site touted its speedy 2-day shipping, but it would appear that there was a slight miscommunication.  12 long days later, I came home to a big, brown box on my doorstep.

There are a number of manufacturers of knock-off Nelson clocks, but this one turned out to be a Verichron.  The total purchase price was $51.  However, I received a $10 discount off after calling up regarding the shipping delay.  You know what they say, "The squeaky wheel always gets the grease."

Now, I must preface this review by stating that, for the price, I was satisfied with my purchase.  The clock looks great and is as consistent with the original as could be expected.  The only differences that I could ascertain were that the color of the hands is off (white hour hand and orange minute hand vs. black and white, respectively) and it is slightly smaller (18.5" vs. 22").  This is also likely the cheapest Nelson replica you'll find, and, naturally, when you go cheap, the quality isn't going to be all that.  However, I just want to be sure that my readers are aware of several additional issues with this model before committing their purchase.

The first, and most obvious, issue is the "George Nelson" label on the face.  I'm not a big fan of such things and the pictures showed the clock sans label on the website, so that was a bit of a bummer.  I'd remove it, but there is some sort of lacquer or film over the face and I wouldn't want to mess it up.

Next is the face itself.  The website stated that it would be "brass metal", but I'm somewhat skeptical.  It doesn't feel cool to the touch and has a hollow, plasticky sound when tapped.  I'm pretty sure it's either a paper thin layer of metal over plastic or just entirely plastic.

The "metal" also doesn't wrap all the way to the back of the clock and only covers about one-third of the side.  A bit of ugly, glossy grey plastic (I wish that they would have at least used matte black) extends about an inch beyond the cover and, when viewed from the side, sticks out like a sore thumb.  I presume that this was done to save on material costs.  However, it seriously detracts from the aesthetics of the clock.

Lastly, the little contrasting bands on the spindles aren't a different shade of wood or even painted on.  They're strips of colored electrical tape!  In my case, the tape came loose in transport and needed to be redone.  They at least put the seams around back, but you can see some serous cost-cutting was done here.

Despite all of the issues, I must say that it is an attractive clock once hung.  If you squint and look at it just right, you might even mistake it for a real Nelson.  With the price of higher-quality reproductions running into the hundreds, I can certainly overlook the differences until I can get my hands on an original.

Source: georgenelson.org