If one is storing an analog clock for a period of weeks or months, is it better for the clock mechanism to leave it wound-up or unwound; or does it make no difference? [Yes, I know that analog clocks are not preferred.]
Michael Lilly
Portland, OR
Actually, it is more correct to say that analog clocks are now deprecated. They are the clock of absolutely last resort for all time controls, even those with neither increment nor delay.
I can’t answer the question definitively, but I believe I heard in the dim, dark past that it is better to leave the clock unwound and not to keep the coiled spring under tension. I’m quite ready to be proven wrong about that.
From what I have heard, partially unwound is okay. Having it wound up tight is considered to be bad. I guess because of metal fatigue. Totally unwound should not be bad for these clocks, but I recall someone saying that was not good either. Old BHB clocks were notorious for becoming almost frozen if they were tightly wound and left for months or years without being used.
Thanks.
Michael Lilly
Portland, Oregon
Convention is that unwound is better. It’s also a royal pain to unwind both sides, so I always viewed it as a wash back when analog clocks were still standard. (They have not been standard for more than two decades.)
Once wound or unwound, as you see fit, I offer the preferred places to store an analog clock:
- museum
- active incinerator
Yes. Same with wrist and pocket watches–mechanical, of course.
A friend and I played G-60 Sunday in a park here with my INSA in plastic case. It works quite well. The sound of the ticking is quite relaxing. We’ll be playing again tonight. Chronos or INSA…life with choices is nice. 
Whether “non-standard” or “deprecated”, analog clocks are still used in tournament play. The Jerger clocks are close to indestructible. The BHB clocks were so ubiquitous on the tournament scene at one time that there are many still about, used for Bughouse, Blitz, and regular tournament play. Not too long ago, I watched two 2500+ players using an INSA clock that they borrowed because neither had brought any equipment to the event. They did not seem put out that they were not playing with a delay. As long as you keep them in a dry place with a cover on them, these clocks will last for decades. Our club has a Master Quartz and a couple of BHBs to use as a last resort for tournaments when all of our digitals are being used.
Fixed it for you.
LOL. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia, or maybe the gentle ticking triggers subconscious memories of being in ones mother’s womb, but there is something I find really nice about playing with an analogue clock. Interestingly, they are able to keep time. I know that’s amazing in a digital age…I’m thinking of buying a wood cased INSA. Just love the way they look.
@brennanprice
I find the “Fixed it for you” phrase a little insulting. I never try to edit other’s posts or put words in anyone’s mouth.
Not everyone lives in an affluent metropolitan area and has the money to buy clocks when FIDE or the USCF changes the rules to favor manufacturers. Out here in the hinterlands, we have a number of players who play only once in a while that feel no need to buy new equipment all of the time. While I have kept up with clocks, that is only because I play more and in different tournament formats. Having to buy a new clock is a significant purchase for many players, even for me. I was picky about what I bought and find many digitals on the market to be garbage and a waste of money. Our club has a half dozen working digitals for our members to use in our tournaments and for casual play, along with the holdover BHBs and a Master Quartz from the '90’s when the club was first started.
Fair enough–I consider collecting akin to museum placement. Just because analog clocks are obsolete and unsuited for tournament play doesn’t mean they are without value. Honestly, I miss mine sometimes, but I would never play a serious game with it.
Fair enough. I can and should do better. Unconditional apologies on that point.
On the remaining points, we simply disagree. It’s been two decades. It’s time for holdouts to buy a new clock.
@ChessSpawn
I do like my old, dark wood Insa chess clock. Like the Coldfield analog clock, it has the feature showing the last minute countdown by 15 second markings to allow you to know how much time you have left. The Insa is relatively quiet on the clock press. It has a larger face than any of the digital clocks which allows the briefest of looks out of the corner of your eye to check the time. The clock was a match for the wooden pieces I liked to compete with in tournament play. But I cannot use it anymore. Time marches on. We are now “seconds precise.” The use of delay and increment have become the new norms. Beauty and craftsmanship have been replaced by metal or plastic and flashing lights in colors, like a casino. I, too, used to like to hear the ticking of the clocks. It was soothing, representing an older tradition. We are now in the 21st century where we have become accustomed to wasting money on incremental changes in technology. Like the horde of young lemmings, I now bring a cheap plastic set, a vinyl board that needs cleaned, and a DGT NA when I play in tournaments.
With fast time controls, the analog clocks have become passe, though if they are the only thing available do tell time very well. There is no offficial rule absolutely forbidding their use. As a TD, it makes my job easier as the games will be over quicker. The issue of “clock bashing monkeys” is a bit overblown but still exists in the digital age. Most of the noise comes from banging pieces and thumping the metal cases of the digital clocks.
As a TD, 30 second increment makes my job easier because fewer games are in time pressure at the same time, and almost no games are in extreme time pressure. I accept that it makes the job of the guy who cleans up the tournament hall more difficult.
Digital clocks also keep me from having to answer time related questions for younger players. E.g. “Can I stop keeping score yet?”
Alex Relyea
Many of the “holdouts” are alleged professionals who are too cheap or too arrogant to buy a clock, expecting others to provide sets, boards, and clocks for them to use. All too often, I have seen titled players at the large CCA tournaments trying to mooch a clock or set from a class player because they are too lazy to bring one of their own. In a way, we as organizers enable this continued unprofessional behavior, usually with the excuse that we are trying to make sure that everyone plays under similar conditions with conforming time controls. What we don’t say is that because so many don’t bring equipment, we are stuck having to provide it for them rather than watch them wander around bothering all of the players trying to cadge a spare set. Every once in a while I joke that I have a South Park set they can use.
The amateurs, especially the affluent ones, bought into getting digital clocks and every new version that rolled off the line in order to stay up with technology. The amateurs who play a lot usually have two or more digital clocks along with two or three analog clocks that they picked up over time because of how they looked. They are the ones who buy most of the software, videos, online memberships, books, magazines, and expensive sets. I know amateurs with expensive computer setups organized just for chess. Amateurs like wooden sets and collect all sorts of chess paraphernalia.
ChessUSA has a three minute sand timer for a mere $2.49 … 
Could use it for cooking eggs, too.
How do you use the sand timers for Bughouse?
There’re working on developing one just for bughouse.
To go back to the storage question for a moment, the only problem I’ve ever had was with a Hetman clock that I stored wound. It seemed to damage one of the mechanisms. The clock was not worth fixing.