Watch this episode in VR with Oculus TV: www.oculus.com/experiences/media/312706093644490/

@dustysparks

2 жыл бұрын

Sean, you should reach out to CuriousMarc here on YT, he's on the west coast and he's about as obsessed with analog clocks as you are. I think the two of you can figure out that heavy cube chronometer and get it working again. :)

I used one of the Detex clocks when I was a security guard as a summer job in college. They were still being used into the early 1990s, at least. They're actually not that heavy to carry around. The real thing was remembering to take it with you when you went out on a round; otherwise you'd have to do it over again. I never dropped one, and they usually had a place to hang them, so they didn't really receive rough treatment. They've replaced these in a lot of places with little barcodes that can be scanned via a smartphone. I found one in a mall just before the security guard walked up to scan it. I told him about the Detex clocks, and how we did things back in the day. He was duly horrified at life in the Dark Ages.

@Lethgar_Smith

2 жыл бұрын

I walked around with one back in the 80s. Damn thing weighed a ton and that thin leather strap would dig into my shoulder. The walk was 45mins long and they wanted us to do it every hour. In the summer. In Florida. Outside. Even at night the temperature doesn't drop below 80 degrees.

@MrRobot1984

2 жыл бұрын

Used a detex clock as a security guard for the Dallas department of transportation in 2005. Triple digit heat at night in a cotton uniform trying to find these dumb keys in a specific order that makes no sense all in one hour. Worse job ever!

@brianprinty112

2 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't be surprised to see them in use today here and there.

@TwoScoopsofDestroyer

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds incredibly easy to just take a picture of the barcode and print another one out. The RFID/NFC based ones seem more reliable.

@Zanroff

2 жыл бұрын

My dad was a night watchman at the Cleveland Zoo, and he said he used it too!

The "RemindOTimer" was used primarily in hotels for wake up calls back in the day when the hotel switchboard operator actually rang the phone in your room to wake you up (or remind you of whatever). There was a list of names and room numbers and when a alarm went off, the operator would call all the rooms on the list at that time.

re: the security guard clock... I did security in the mid 90's in a large manufacturing plant and used one of these. I used to drive my supervisor crazy by stashing a skateboard at various locations and he could not figure out how my times between keys was so quick! Lols! I could do a round that usually averaged almost 2 hours in under an hour! Some places wanted you to do keys in a certain order, some didn't care as long as you did all the keys. You would discover all the shortcuts between keys to make rounds easier!

@MorrisonManor

2 жыл бұрын

I can see that working if the rounds are limited to checking to see if a door is locked at the station but, part of the job usually consists of checking the area as you walk it. On a skateboard, that'd be nearly half as effective.

@bogdog999

2 жыл бұрын

That is where you made a mistake. I carried one of those around in the late 1970s. Being the only person in the buildings I would ride my road bike between stations, then kick back in a chair for a few minutes until it was time to punch the clock if I had walked. Leave no evidence! ;-)

@donaldhoot7741

Жыл бұрын

When it was raining I would let water run in the keyhole. When the supervisor opened it the paper disc was MUSH!! LOL

@KRich408

9 ай бұрын

The point was the time it took to get between keys so that they knew you did your job , when I worked at Bethlehem Steel we needed to check doors and other things between keys going too fast would show you didn't have time to do what you were being paid to do. Sure they didn't have proof you actually did your job if you didn't rush but if your times were too fast they definitely knew you didn't do what you were supposed to .

That guardsman clock is fascinating. Very functional too, for what they were intended to do.

My dad owns a security company and I remember in the 90’s going on rounds to check the time clocks of his guards at different sight and looking at those paper receipts. Lots of good memories!

I remember one Guardsman's Clock project from 1977. It was using RCA Cosmac processor and bar codes instead of keys. Last I heard it was in 1982, it had totally failed because some bloody lazy guardsmen had taken photos of those bar codes.

The guardsman’s clock is easily the coolest to me, and probably also the most cursed lol. A device to imprison the guards of the imprisoned.

Seeing the Detex clock guardsman brought back memories of security job I had back in 80’s where it was used.

The Guardsman clock was really interesting, and I had to ask my dad if he ever used one during his brief time as a prison guard in the 1960s. Only used it for the night shift (to make sure nobody was sleeping on the job!).

5:32 "Wind this clock Friday" HILARIOUS lol

The Remindoclock was used at hotel front desks for wake up calls

@VeraTR909

2 жыл бұрын

Ahh, that makes sense ;)

@DAS-Machina

2 жыл бұрын

I have an Art Deco one. It is really handsome

@kelvincrabtree1062

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, even up into the late 90's.

College security used Detex Guardsmans at Sarah Lawerence College. Each station key was a different shape on the edge. I uses to joke about re- arranging the keys to make it look like the guards had walked an impossible route.

@VeraTR909

2 жыл бұрын

I wonder how hard it would be to pick the lock in in the different ways required to fake a round 🤔

@sleepib

2 жыл бұрын

@@VeraTR909 sounds like it's not actually a lock, just basically makes an imprint of the key on the paper. So you'd basically need to duplicate the keys.

@mmseng2

2 жыл бұрын

The master key on this one had the University of Illinois' wordmark, in its standard traditional font even, stamped on it. So maybe this was also used in university security at some point.

@corssecurity

2 жыл бұрын

@@VeraTR909 the same technology as a typewriter. Old Malting plant I worked late 1990's we used them. That clock was prone to accidents. Now winter time I rounding the eastern side of the plant, three city blocks and I slipped on the ice and planked. Naturally the clock being on my hip swung down under me and I landed on it. Off work for three weeks. One of my predecessors took the keys down off the walls and brought them back to the office. Punched a key in the clock every few minutes. Not sure how long he got away with it, but eventually screwed up the order of the keys as to be impossible. Fourth floor building A few minutes later sub basement building B. Second floor building A.

@robertstredde6798

2 жыл бұрын

@@mmseng2 I believe that’s an Illinois Lock Company key. I have a number of similar keys for cabinet locks and key switches.

The Detex I used had a disc for recording keys. It was olde so we had to click the key numourous times to ensure the key was registered. not too bad, weight about 4.5 lbs. Cheers

@corssecurity

2 жыл бұрын

Used one myself. Think at the time there was three still in use. No one liked them. Fell down stairs, off a roof. Etc etc.

@corssecurity

2 жыл бұрын

I used one in 1998. If you walk around historical buildings you may find the old keys on the wall. Most were sold for scrap.

@davidstephens8543

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly the same as the one my grandfather used on his rounds. Well, we did his rounds for him sometimes... it was just a lumber mill. But I remember having to click several times as you describe... and seeing the foreman pull the paper disc out in the morning!

@marksreviewsandrants8554

10 ай бұрын

The one I used in the 80's had the paper disk.

Never heard of such a time piece for prisons, security, or guard work. What a part of world history, Keep up the preservation work.

@melainewhite6409

2 жыл бұрын

Security guard work is mainly fire watch to reduce insurance cost. These clocks would provide documentation that all areas had been visited each hour in case there ever was an insurance claim.

back in the late 80's i did security for Wackenhut. A factory i worked at used the guardsman key clock. (identical to the one showed). keys were dangling from chains, spread out over the 3 floors of the factory. Was a great system. Yes the clock weighed a ton especially when the rounds were over a half hour to reach all the keys. the clock seemed to get heavier and heavier lol.

@Lethgar_Smith

2 жыл бұрын

My rounds took 45 mins to complete and they wanted them done every hour.

@rickgreer7203

2 жыл бұрын

It's interesting that the current RFID systems (where you touch a recording wand to little RFID buttons anchored all over) is....pretty much exactly the same as this.

@marksreviewsandrants8554

10 ай бұрын

I did it in the late 80's,it was exercise.

I'm 57 years old and one of my first jobs was as a security guard and we used these guard clocks. Total pain in the ass, but being a fellow clock afficianado, I can certainly appreciate the uniqueness of these clocks.

@brennyn

2 жыл бұрын

It seems like it would be a total pain in the ass for the supervisor just as much as it is for the guard. Enough that I could see a lot of bosses throwing the tape away without looking at it but still requiring the guards to use it just because.

@shepshape2585

2 жыл бұрын

@@brennyn I completely agree. I was a guard at a federal facility, so we had to take our rounds seriously, but I too always wondered if they actually checked the tape.

@MorrisonManor

2 жыл бұрын

@@shepshape2585 Detex systems that ran tape usually came with a reading device that made reviewing of individual shifts pretty trivial and easily caught missing or doubled/out of sequence imprints. It even came with a cutter to separate each shift to be placed in the guard's folder to be reviewed if something happened. But, it was up to the supervisor to do the actual checking.

@marksreviewsandrants8554

10 ай бұрын

@@shepshape2585 I did several warehouses and a federal building,we used them and had to write a report of what we did all night.

Used a Detex clock when I was in the Navy. Yes, we were roving around and had about 10 of those keys we had to get every hour. At the end of the watch, the supervisor would open it up, checking that we had 40 'hits'. Nice walk down memory lane. But ours used 'flat' pizza-disk shaped paper. So you had to put the paper in just right so the correct hour would be marked. Just 12 hours IIRC.

Used the Guardsman in the Navy in Philly while in HT school for watchstanding around the school back in the early 80s. The school bordered the Navy Brig/prison so it was creepy walking the fence/wall line seeing the razor wire with broken glass on top of the walls. Memories. The Remindo has been around since the 30s and was last made in the 90s by American Time & Signal Co. out of Dassel, MN. They've been made by different companies in CA, NV, IL, MN over the years.

There was also a Detex clock that used a disc piece of paper every 24 hours. It was the same size and weight as the weekly taped version but the numbered key would be inserted in the side of the clock instead of the face of the clock.

When I was a young kid the watchman at a construction site had that clock, he was able to beat the system that he didn't do his rounds. Also inside the clock it used a flat round white and black paper for the punches to go onto. Wow brought back memories looking at that clock

A very niche application of those guardsman clocks was by the United States Life Saving Service and Coast Guard for beach patrol. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the days before every vessel had radio, patrolmen would walk the beaches all across the United States at night and in incliment weather to keep a lookout for vessels in distress. Clocks like the guardsman were often carried by the patrolman, with they key located in a lock box on a post designating the end of the patrol area.

2:30... My grandfather was a night watchman at a lumber mill back in the 70's and 80's and when we would do his rounds with him, he carried one of the clocks. I remember getting to use the keys at the various stations to get to punch the clock wheel... a paper disc in the clock.

Can confirm these were still used as late as 1997

I have a small collection of odd clock and I really enjoyed these two segments. I do have a reminder clock and from my research I learned that they were very popular in nurses stations and nursing homes. So they could program in times for different medications for different patients. I remember seeing those Guardsmen clocks back in the 80s. But now you have me wanting to find one to add to my collection. Also I'm looking for the old electric clock to take them out of the box. That's a cool look.

Those Detex clocks were made robust because they were also an impact weapon. Swung from its strap, it could deliver a very powerful blow.

@MorrisonManor

2 жыл бұрын

They had to be able to take a lot of abuse. When a guard screwed-up and fell asleep, disabling the clock was their only chance at keeping their job.

I saw a Remindo timer back in the early 80's on a hotel desk I'm guessing (and it is a guess as a never asked) that its use was linked to wake-up call timing. This should also give a hint that the hotel I was in was a dive :)

I work in the Protection Industry and they are still used at some locations. Guards used to do the first Patrol and pick up all the keys. Then they would sit in the office and do so called "patrols" then do the last patrol to put the keys back. But if they got caught the would get removed on a disciplinary charge.

The second one looks aeronautical

I did security for my college in the 80s. This brings back memories

Remindertimer!!! We had that at the hotel/resort switchboard for wake up calls. (until the late 90s, even) A bunch of those going off at once....loud.

My dad used the dex clock as a night watchman at the Cleveland Zoo. He wrote a book about his time there called "My Life in the Cleveland Zoo". Look for the Giraffe cover. It's on Amazon, if anyone cares. He died 7 years ago, but he told me a lot of stories growing up.

I had to carry one of those Detex watchclocks when I was a security guard. NO fun in the pouring rain! When it was raining I would let water run in the keyhole. When the supervisor opened it the paper disc was MUSH!! LOL

I worked in a place that had those guard's clocks. They switched from carrying around the clock to the key, to carrying around the key to the mounted clocks part way through my tenure at that job. This would have been back in the 1980s.

That's really cool to see how something so trivial these days was done a long time ago.

When I was a watchman in 1975, the Detex had been replaced by a small panel set in one corner of each floor of the tall building that I worked in. The panel had a key hole, a red light, and a phone jack. I had to turn the key on each floor within 15 minutes or the light would begin to flash and I would have to plug a handset into the jack and explain to the guard station what was the delay or they would send a warm body up to check on me.

All of the guards I saw when I was younger used those clocks. I always wondered why they had such a big clock to carry around, lol !

I used one in the 80's. Night guard at a nursing home. Spent many hrs playing cards with the old gals.

Ok there is a security guard in the Audrey Hepburn movie, "How to Steal a Million" and I ALWAYS wondered what he was doing. Well, he had one of those clocks! How cool to know!

In 1997 I worked as a security guard on the Oregon coast and the company I worked for was still using those guardsman clocks. We had one like that and a smaller one too. And I can tell you from packing that big one around for a 10 hour shift was a real pain.

Thank you for sharing these clocks.

Yes please. Will watch Sean videos all day.

Thanks for the follow up video! Such interesting history!

Thanks for the show and tell. You should do more clock content!

I used one on the USS Inchon in the early ‘80’s making my rounds to the magazines and sensitive areas. We called them just Detex clocks. Thanks for the vid, first time I’ve seen the guts in one. I just saw one watching a 3 Stooges episode lol.

Really cool. My family ran a jewelry store for 30 yrs+ and I was gifted a wind up clock from a Russian sub. Lol. Still works too from the 80's.

I collect watchclocks. I have them going back to mid-19th century. The Guardsman is one of my least favorite clocks except for it's high-quality platform escapement, that's on par with Chelsea. All the other Detex/Newman-based) clocks use a disc to record visits. The oldest brass clocks with a brass/enamel drum are the most beautiful. And you should really look into the Hardinge designs. The station keys on those are quite distinctive. Looks like some of the upholstery washers were already replaced. I have a few NOS keyhole covers if you want one. (Might take a few days to find) But, it'd need to be distressed to match the 'patina'. Your pin has been hammered flat to the cover so getting it out may be destructive.

Used one of these at a sawmill in the 80s. Due to fire hazards etc. they really wanted to know the last time an area was checked. Cool relic for sure.

I just love watching your episodes and suddenly learning about such cool stuff as guardmans clock :) best wishes form Poland.

That precision stop clock would be awesome mounted inside a wall in your kitchen near the stove

KZread algorithm: "we think you will like this" Me watches video: "this seams like a techmoan video" Techmoan: "that's my JCS hifi timer in the lower left cornor."

The first time I saw a guardsman clock was on a cruise ship about 1989 or 1990. I got interested when I noticed workers carrying what I too thought was a canteen walking around the vessel. I finally asked one of them and he said it confirmed that he was making his rounds. RFID can never be as cool.

I used a Detex clock at some places until the year 2000. That was when they really started to get phased out for wands and access cards.

I used that exact model Detex in ‘86-‘87 at US Coast Guard Base Galveston. It also has a leather carrying strap so you could sling it over your shoulder like a purse.

I used one of these. Worked night security at a saw mill in the late '90s. Even though we used RF ID cards to punch in and out.

Detex is still used aboard some ships for rounds.

@VeraTR909

2 жыл бұрын

Lockpicking lawyer should check if he could manipulate one to fake a round ;)

@mycosys

2 жыл бұрын

@@VeraTR909 every key is effectively a stamp so you would need prior knowledge of what the stamp looks like to forge another, pretty much any key is useless if you give out images of it but otherwise it would be impossible to pick.

Watching this was time we’ll spent! 😉

I wasn’t very interested before I clicked on this video. Now I’m kind of fascinated by this.

MORREEEE!!! I could listen to him talk about cool old ship clocks guard clocks old clocks are so interesting.

The reminder clock would be handy in the kitchen. ✌

The first clock is the the analog version of the ADHD million alarms meme

You mentioned in the last episode another clock that was "piezoelectric". Honestly, I'd be pretty surprised if those are actually piezo. Almost anything running on AC used a simple vibrator mechanism, basically akin to wiring a the coil of a relay through the normally closed contact. It'll vibrate at 60Hz, giving pretty much the same type of buzz as the clock in this video. Piezo buzzers typically have a much higher frequency, nominally in the 2200Hz range (not a hard number, but a generalization).

the Detex clock is a pretty fascinating object to find going down a rabbit hole on eBay! :D

The missing cover sounds like a one day build.

Thanks for this video I can understand the Detex Newman Clock that I use in my company as a Nightwatch

Cool clock, we used one here in our plant up to the early 2000's. We still have a few of the key boxes around the factory still hanging on the wall .

I used one of those guardsmans watchclocks at a coal mine in the early 2000's. Weighed a ton, I hated it.

They are all so cool!

I used the watchman clock a bunch on the weekends at a textile mill .

Interesting that the master key for the guardsman clock not only has "ILLINOIS" stamped on it, but the font is even the standard traditional font of the University of Illinois' wordmark. Source: I'm a townie in the university's city. Wondering if this came from nearby Joliet prison (popularly known as the namesake of Blues Brother Joliet Jake). Or more likely, it's just from the university itself. Other commenters (@Daniel Saks and @Aaron McLin) mentioned that these were used in college security elsewhere.

I remember using the Detex clock as a security guard when I was in college. My shifts were 6pm to 6am. We had maybe 8 or ten stations. The dumb thing is that they left me the key so I could change the paper disc inside. So I would open it up, visit each station and rotate the disc to each hour and punch the clock. So I ended up doing a single walk around per shift instead of 11 or 12. I forget how I got around the tamper mechanism - maybe I did all the punching near the end of the shift or something. Never had a problem on my watch either.

@melainewhite6409

2 жыл бұрын

Had a co-worker who did the same thing. Personally I didn't mind the walking as it wasn't that much each hour. Guess the difference between an old person and a college student.

@slamdancer1720

2 жыл бұрын

@@melainewhite6409 one site i did it at was a rock quarry, and the foreman would take the keys and put them on the equipment kinda hide them. made for a much longer patrol.

I have a Standard Time stopclock similar to that second one. It has two connections. One is power. Mine is 120vac, which I think was pretty common. The other is a contact closure that starts the clock when shorted and stops it when opened. The clock motor runs continuously when powered. The start/stop is via an electric clutch/brake that starts and stops the hands.

Very interesting pieces. Thanks for sharing, Sean.

I have always wanted a flip clock.

I've always wanted one of those tube clocks

Our shipyard shop had the leather back guardsman clock....ever hour at nite checks

I know no one asked, but I'm going to chime in on the detex (de-tex) guardsman time keeper. I've been a guard for a decade, I started in June of 2011. And at one of my first sites about 9 or 10 years ago, they had one still in operation. I had to pack it around and use it for my shift... They are still in the wild.

Another really neat video! Thanks for sharing, Sean!

Detex clock...Pain in the backside to carry. They used them after the 80's.

used several doing security work in the 80's.There was a way to get in the clock without it leaving a mark.

@MorrisonManor

2 жыл бұрын

How did you get around the telltale?

Fascinating.

I remember the Detex Guardsman! I had one when I did security. It could be used as a makeshift self-defense weapon against the unknown! Also I learned that other security guards would kill the detex clock ⏰ by injecting it with CO2 with a gas gun, inflator, or fire extinguisher! Kills the mechanism WITHOUT anyone knowing!

80’s? I used a key clock in 2012 when I was a guard in college.

The precision timer looks like it's from a photolab.

I used the Detex clock in the 80's,I used them in several warehouses and a federal building,we would change the paper disk at the beginning of our shift,the one I used was a little different inside, and I think the key hole was on top,but it was a single disk of paper.

I kinda want most of these clocks.

@tested

2 жыл бұрын

Right?

Look what I found at the rose bowl flea market last weekend…

The detex offered two different versions. The more common version offered each guard a key and the clock was stationed at various points around their beat. Each guard would turn their key once every two hours or whatever time chunk when they passed. Much simpler operation since the clock is so heavy. From what I know, carrying the clock was only the case for locomotive guards, almost every other facility had the guard carrying the key

@slamdancer1720

2 жыл бұрын

I have never seen it as a guard with key punching it in clocks at the locations...certainly never used that type. The other was MUCH more common IME.

I work as a security guard and I can confirm that some sites are still using those detex clocks today in 2021. Mostly old warehouses and government sites like water treatment plants. And 90% of the clocks I've had to use don't even function anymore. They're absurd and I hate them.

I wonder if that precision clock is for use on a submarine or ship. Precise timing is used for navigation via dead reckoning.

Heh, regarding that Detex clock. Towards the end there's this passage in Hannibal, the book, I don't think I ever saw the movie, so I don't know about that, where Dr. Lecter is mocking the memory Clarice has of her father as the heroic cop who got killed on the job by a couple of burglars. He goes on to say something like "Did he perhaps carry a clock, Clarice, with keys around town which he had to turn in it?" (and yes, whenever I read those books, I hear Lecter's dialogue in Anthony Hopkins' voice). The whole thing is all part of a big scheme of Lecter's in bending Clarice to his will, mocking her father as not a "proper" cop but more of a glorified night's watchman who doesn't deserve respect etc. Anyway, while the author does a proper job of explaining the function and mindset behind the device, there's very little if any physical description of the thing. Cool to finally have a mental picture of it...

@slamdancer1720

2 жыл бұрын

he needs a little chiante

Bethlehem Steel was still using them in the mid to late 90s I don't know if they keep using them up until the company was basically demolished? I moved out of state a few years before it closed up completely before they could give me my walking papers.

I have several clocks that are ‘8 day’ clocks. Wind them once a week. So, that’s a normal characteristic.

Makes it sound like the guards were prisoners too.

awesome video, clocks are pretty badass.

If you end up repairing that Guardsmen clock you should do an update!

Very cool clocks! The one that needs maintenance might be a darkroom clock? My most current only interesting one is my Russian submarine clock that I haven't hung up yet because it's freaking heavy!

Excelente, me gustó el de guardia de seguridad.

It's that clock Making time⏰😱

Used to have one of those I also have a master clock that was made by international which I think later become IBM that was the master clock that set the time clocks in the building of an old carpet mill