Indian Wells antique restoration by Museum Quality Restoration Services
This Indian Wells antique restoration was a comprehensive restoration and repair project. A vintage neon wall-clock from the mid-century modern era, this clock had tremendous sentimental value to the client. My client wrote me this review as a letter of appreciation for the finished work:
I had an old wall clock, 65-years old. It belonged to my father and hung on the wall of his shoe store for 35 years. It had great sentimental value to me. Unfortunately, it had moved several times and been in storage. It was badly beaten up. The glass was broken, hands bent, parchment type of lettering torn. The only thing that worked was a neon bulb. Mark Fry of Museum Quality Restoration was able to take the clock apart and restore the clock without touching the neon. The glass was replaced, hands were replaced, but the most difficult was the translucent lettering from the 1950’s. Mark detailed out several templates until he was able to reproduce an exact replica of “translucent” lettering. He allowed the neon to shine through beautifully. Now the clock hangs in my office and I look at the same time my father looked at 65 years ago. Thank you Mark Fry.
Larry Brooks
Feel free to browse the project blog: Restoration | Refinishing | Sculpture | Custom-Made Or view slideshows of restoration work on our YouTube Page.
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- Clock needed a lot of restoration. The glass was broken, the chrome was rusted and pitted and the metal was bent up. The clock face and hands needed cleaning and the lettered ring needed to be reproduced.
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- Clock needed a lot of restoration. The glass was broken, the chrome was rusted and pitted and the metal was bent up. The clock face and hands needed cleaning and the lettered ring needed to be reproduced.
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- Clock needed a lot of restoration. The glass was broken, the chrome was rusted and pitted and the metal was bent up. The clock face and hands needed cleaning and the lettered ring needed to be reproduced.
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- Metal had to be straightened out here
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- The chrome ring was very rusty
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- Chrome ring and glass removed for restoration
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- Neon tube had to be carefully removed
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- The Clock was disassembled and the face was taped and papered, then stripped to bare metal. The dents were pounded and straightened out and filled, then sanded smooth. After that etching primer was applied and sanded
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- Lacquer primer was applied and sanded
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- Black lacquer was applied
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- Clear gloss lacquer application
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- Clock face prepared to be cleaned
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- Cleaning clock face with a very light abrasive solution to remove dirt and oxidation and brighten up the black and white
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- Re-installed clock mechanism
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- Glued old pattern on paper
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- Made photo copy of original pattern
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- Hand painted the colors back in
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- Hand painted the colors back in
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- Hand painted the colors back in
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- After all the hand painting was done a photocopy was made
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- A photocopy was made after all the hand painting was done
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- Rubber tubing was cut to refit the neon tube back in place
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- Neon tube being wired to hold in place on clock face
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- Job completed
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- Job completed and neon tube is on
