The clock was on the mantle of the house I grew up in. It wasn't wound often, but when it was, I loved lying in bed at night listening to it strike. When Dad died in 2022, I asked my sister if I could have something of him, and she offered me the clock. When I got it, I tried to wind it, but it wouldn't wind, so I thought it was fully wound, and set it. It didn't run.
Every so often since then, I've moved the hands so I could hear it chime. A few nights ago, I did, and then looked at it the next night. I'd left it on the hour, but when I looked at it, it was on the quarter.
The next morning, I started looking into it. Asked some questions on a discord server. Discovered first that if I put light pressure on the minute hand, the clock would run. The person I was talking to asked me about the balance wheel, located at the top of the works. "Was it moving (it's supposed to rock/swing?"
"No, it isn't moving," I replied.
Their next question was "What happens if you move it by hand?" So, I tried rocking it. It moved with my finger, and then when I let go, it quit.
That night, on a whim, I decided to try flicking it to see what it would do. It spun, and then started to rock, and the clock ran for about 40 seconds. I did that a few more times that night, and then again the next morning.
Well, it started to run longer before it quit. And, then, I started it and walked away. I went to sit out on my patio. The kitchen window was open (the clock was sitting on the kitchen table). After a while, I heard a rapid clicking. I went inside to check, and it was still running. At 11:30, it had been running for an hour, so I set it to the correct time, and then left it. At noon, the correct time, the clock struck on it's own. It's still running, striking on the hour and on the half.
Four days later, it's still running. It's losing time, about five minutes in 24 hours. I'm probably still going to have to have it serviced and cleaned (it's 45 years old, and to my knowledge it has never been serviced, let alone the fact that until it started running a few days ago, it hasn't run in at least 35 years).