My neighbor died unexpectedly during surgery awhile back. He was a hobbyist in clocks and watches (can you believe it?) as well as the local Lutheran minister. Naturally folks in his congregation brought him some clocks and watches to “look at”, meaning fix for free.

Like many tinkerers, he would tear something down until he hit a stumbling block and set aside the parts for a later day when he got an epiphany on how to solve the problem. When he died there were dials in one place, hands in another, movements in yet another, and finally cases somewhere else. Nothing was marked as to whom they belonged as it was all in his head. His widow of course was beside herself and all she could say to people is “if it looks like yours, take it home.”

As they say out here, at my age I have been to this rodeo before, and it is a tragedy that does not need to happen.

There is a simple rule to be followed: if it is not your personal property, then mark to whom it does belong. Every pendulum, weight set, dial, etc. needs to be tagged. Tags are available commercially and cost practically nothing.That is a duty one has to the client and his property. To not do that is an act of negligence.

You will be very surprised at the number of calls I receive from repair persons asking how much the weights should be of a particular movement or how long the pendulum should be simply because they were in a jumble in the shop and he really could not sort it out. You might also be surprised at the number of times the person brings the parts back to the house and the customer states “that is not my pendulum.”

Or the repair person who has 5 house calls in a day and everything gets loaded into the van unmarked. It is unprofessional and inexcusable. If one takes the parts from the house they should be tagged right at the customer’s house so the customer can see they are tagged. It instills confidence in the repair person.

In the end, it makes life a lot less frustrating for both parties.