It almost appears as though many marketers of clocks waited until after this past Christmas season to introduce and attempt to flood the American marketplace with cheaply made clocks products at much lower price points.  This is a trend we have noticed, and seems now to be accelerating and becoming as prevalent for grandfather clocks as it has been for wall clocks and mantel clocks.

Whether shopping for a grandfather clock or a mantle clock timepiece, it is more important then ever to understand what exactly one is thinking about buying.  Special attention should be given when tucked away in the language describing a clock it says something like some assembly required.  Without naming names, we have started to see more and more of the larger Dealers peddling clocks as though they are comparable to ones made by such known makers as Howard Miller Clocks or Hermle Clocks, when they in fact may be cheap imitations, sometimes even using the same model names to sell entirely different clocks.

We have heard from customers who are confused by what they are seeing in the marketplace, and think one Company’s product was actually made by another leading and well known Company.

We welcome input from clock shoppers and the relevant experiences they may be having.

In the meantime, while caveat emptor should always be on the minds of any shopper, buyers of timepieces should carefully look at their options, and ask the hard questions to make certain they are comfortable with what they are buying all of the time.

Some time ago on Clocks Blog, it was shared that 1-800-4CLOCKS would like to offer both standard and customized clocks, to individual and corporate customers. The potential advantages to customer are clear. But how much would you want one?

There are companies out there today that have approaches not dissimilar to what we have been planning for years, specifically www.clocklink.com and www.worldtimeserver.com . Of course we will differentiate ourselves both in offerings and strategy.

Would you want to buy a customized web clock? For yourself? For your Company. We are currently planning to launch this effort on a new website at www.ClocksLive.com .

A flash clock will be added to the home page of the 1-800-4CLOCKS.com website, so individuals can see an example of what we are talking about.

Among the offerings we envision are real looking clocks that look real, and default to the set time on your personal computer’s stored time. We see also offering this with grandfather clocks, wall clocks, mantel clocks, atomic clocks, and much more. We are even thinking of starting a niche specialty site for grandfather clocks at www.GrandfatherClocksLive.com.

We would absolutely love and encourage feedback, including from anyone who would want to help turn this over time to the amazing opportunity that it is.

Please send us your thoughts on ClocksLive and GrandfatherClocksLive with any comments, suggestions, or recommendations. All clocks advice is appreciated. This will be just one more way each individual can Add Time to Your Life.