Mrs. Weasley's Excellent Timepieces

[sunnyskywalker]

Mrs. Weasley is sure associated with clocks and watches a lot.

This struck me when Ron got a watch with stars and odd symbols in HBP. It sounds very much like the description of Dumbledore's watch from PS/SS (twelve hands and little planets). How many astronomically-themed watches have we seen in the series? Just these two, as far as I can remember.

Then there's the "excellent clock" Dumbledore makes a point of mentioning in HBP. We've heard about it since CoS (oops, I meant PoA or GoF, forget which). There was another clock in CoS, one that had things like "Time to make tea" and "Time to feed the chickens" instead of numbers.

That's four unusual timepieces (five if you count the Blacks' homicidal grandfather clock), three of which came from or belong to Mrs. Weasley. It's enough to make one wonder where Dumbeldore got his watch.

Is Mrs. Weasley some sort of timepiece-magic expert?

Maybe she just shops at a specialty clock and watch store which does a lot of customizations, or at least sells pieces which are easy to customize (the clocks are so keyed to Mrs. Weasley's daily schedule and family). But it's also possible that she's the one who makes them. Maybe she does do something for the Order of the Phoenix besides cook and clean at headquarters. Maybe it's extremely crucial work - and extremely secret. Maybe that comment in HBP about how the kids smashed all the time-turners is a clue that we should be wondering who else could make them.

Or not. I really don't know. There are a lot of tantalizing possibilities, though. And a lot of questions. Does the Order have a clock with hands for all its members so they can keep track of who is traveling, in mortal peril, and dead? Did Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George get watches on their seventeenth birthdays too? What does Dumbledore's watch do? Was it buried with him, or is it in his office? Does Ron's watch have any special abilities? If Mrs. Weasley does make these watches and clocks, then does she make them just for her and her family's and friends' uses, or is she working for someone? Dumbledore? The Department of Mysteries? Who knows about this?

ETA: This isn't directly relevant, and I'm not sure what it signifies, but it is another thing to note for the "time" theme: in GoF, Harry's watch stops working after he takes it swimming in the lake.

Comments

[jeenyus-girl.livejournal.com]

I always wondered if the clock that shows the location of each family member would become important. When I first read HBP, I immediately thought that my theory was shot because everyone was constantly in "mortal peril."

Perhaps not, though. If Dumbledore made a point of mentioning the clock, it may hold some significance in the future. Maybe a more sophisticated version could be more accurate in keeping track of people, or even be used to spy on enemies.

Interesting thoughts, sunnyskywalker. More mysteries to ponder before book seven comes out.

This is Marvolo7 from sw.com, by the way. :)

[sunnyskywalker]

Hi!

Ooh, a spy clock. I like that! Who knows - maybe that's what Dumbledore's watch is, something to keep track of his agents. Maybe they can use it to track Snape, or see someone unexpected pop up at Hogwarts (kind of like the map in PoA).

Or perhaps. . .

[(Anonymous)]

If Mrs. Weasley does make these watches and clocks, then does she make them just for her and her family's and friends' uses, or is she working for someone? Dumbledore? The Department of Mysteries? Who knows about this?

. . . she's an entrepreneuse? Gred & Forge must have gotten it from somewhere.

Re: Or perhaps. . .

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, good point! Even if F & G don't know, they probably would have picked up some of her talents somehow. They're bright kids. Hmm, maybe her objection to their business is mainly that she thinks it's frivolous. Or that it's too dangerous, considering some of the stuff they were selling - maybe she knows from experience what can happen when you sell your stuff to the wrong person. Maybe she did sell clocks once, then quit after something happened, and now only makes them for home use and very special people. More possibilities to ponder...

[sscrewdriver.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of Molly as an entrepreneurial magical clock and watch maker, even if she had to give it up to raise 7 kids. Great theory.

[sunnyskywalker]

Thanks!

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

Would she really have had to give it up if she was selling by owl? Maybe for a few years when she had most of the kids at home, but she probably could've picked it up again when Fred and George went to Hogwarts.

[rogueravenclaw.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it might have helped her raise 7 kids. Slow time down, speed it up... etc.

[rogueravenclaw.livejournal.com]

P.S.

Not to mention she sends them all off to boarding school at 11. What exactly was she doing all day after they all left? ...

[sunnyskywalker]

No kidding! Surely she doesn't spend all her time knitting those sweaters, especially since she can use magic to speed things up.

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yay!
I'd been thinking about this for a while too, glad somebody else had the same idea! Didn't make the connection with Dumbledore's watch though, that's a very good point...
I think she must make them herself or something... If you could just get them in a shop, everyone would have one, or else they would be really expensive, which doesn't make sense for the Weasleys.

[sunnyskywalker]

Yes, they do sound expensive! Especially the watches, which I think are gold (or at least gold-colored - heh, maybe they're knockoffs). Glad I'm not the only one wondering about this.

[snape-in-lurve.livejournal.com]

Interesting essay - howeveer, the 'excellent clock' reference is with respect to Mrs. Weasley's one clock - that's the one that says, 'time to make tea', 'feed the chickens' ' at the dentist' 'in mortal danger' etc. Molly has the one 'excellent' (and odd) clock! (which I had one like that)

[sunnyskywalker]

Yeah, the "excellent" clock was the one that kept track of the family members (first mentioned in either PoA or GoF, I forget which), while the other one just told time in a funny way (first mentioned in CoS). We haven't seen any like them, though, which makes me wonder why not and where she got them.

Although the family-tracking clock seems to have shrunk - it was a grandfather clock in GoF, but wasn't she carrying it around in HBP? Does she have two, a big one and a small one, or is that a Flint?

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

it was a grandfather clock in GoF, but wasn't she carrying it around in HBP?

That's a good point... personally I think it is a Flint, perhaps she got the two clocks confused somewhere along the way...
But then it's much nicer to imagine that Mrs Weasley can shrink clocks too, and that's what she's done, to make it easier to check it all the time. :P

[snape-in-lurve.livejournal.com]

I'll go and have a look see at the books again - I seem to recall just the one clock - or maybe it's just a boo-boo - it's difficult to keep continuity in such a big series ...(I think some of JKR's readers would have been better continuity editors than the actual professional editors!)

[askani.livejournal.com]

ooo, excellent essay! i dont have anything to add to it, sadly. although it does make you wonder how the weasleys came across clocks that no one else apparently has.

[sunnyskywalker]

Thanks! It is curious. Maybe Harry just hasn't had the opportunity to see enough clocks and watches, but you'd think he'd notice a couple after six years, so I'm hoping it really is significant.

[shishkeberry.livejournal.com]

Molly herself mentions in HBP that she doesn't know anyone else with a clock like her "excellent" one.

'"It's been like that for a while now," said Mrs Weasley, in an unconvincingly casual voice, "ever since You-Know-Who came back in the open. I suppose everybody's in mortal danger now....I don't think it can be just our family...but I don't know anyone else who's got a clock like this, so I can't check..."'

HBP Chapter Five page 85 hardcover Scholastic

[shishkeberry.livejournal.com]

*doh* If I had just read a little further down I would have seen that someone already mentioned this. Well, either way here's the passage for you! *lol*

[sunnyskywalker]

Thanks! It's nice to have that passage on hand.

[north-of-you.livejournal.com]

I have long suspected that Dumbledore's watch works like Molly's clock, although I have always suspected the hands were for staff members (possibly because I thought of this before OoTP came out). It would explain how Dumbledore knew that McGonagall was McGonagall in her cat form in book 1 (although perhaps he really did recognize her) and explain how he knew Hagrid was coming (although perhaps they also just set a time to meet?). Considering who he had on staff it would make sense for Dumbledore's watch to not show names or list what each of the hour symbols meant.

Or maybe he just likes interesting watches?

[sunnyskywalker]

For staff - that does make sense. That is about the right number of hands, too, isn't it? Now I'll have to go look at a list of professors...

[mr-yer-on-fire.livejournal.com]

The idea of having the same kind of clock for Order members that Mrs. Weasley has for her family would be really useful, I think. I'm surprised that hasn't been done in the books.
I'm trying to reach back in my memory for something I read...Jo mentioned in an interview somewhere that time plays an important part. She was referring to the time-turners, I believe. But I never really thought to tie in all of these time devices. It really does get one thinking.

[sunnyskywalker]

She has used time a lot, you're right. PoA, all the times there's "no time" to go get help, all the events from the past affecting the present, the intergenerational parallels...

Here from the Daily Snitch

[kaerya.livejournal.com]

You've no idea how delighted I am that someone else got this impression too.

I remember Molly mentioning that she didn't know anyone else with a clock like hers (the mortal peril one). That certainly does imply that it was custom made at the very least. Still, even if it were custom made, it's hard for me to believe that Molly's the only person in the wizarding world who wants to keep track of their family/friends/cheating husband. To me that seems to indicate that Molly made it herself, or at least did the spellwork necessary, likely before the twins were born or when they were very young. Any later and she'd have put "Getting into Trouble" on it. ^^

It also lends support to the Arthur/Molly pairing. He tinkers with Muggle things, and Molly tinkers with clocks.

Re: Here from the Daily Snitch

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, that's a great point about Molly and Arthur! And the twins tinker with their products - maybe it's a fine family tradition.

[dani-boi.livejournal.com]

in a broader sense than the clocks, time in general seems to play a huge role in the hp series, going back in time, tracking time, wasting time, keeping track of school years etc., much of the books have an underlying theme of time which can be easily overlooked by the more prominant plot lines (probably with the exception of poa)...i think, with the constant references of time and basically an entire book dedicated to time and its either good or bad consequences, that in book 7 this theme is really going to surface...it seems that timing is everything in much of this series so id except that to hold true in book 7...id also like to see mrs weasleys clock explained bc if i were a witch and could get my hands on a clock like that, i definitely would

[sunnyskywalker]

Yes, you're right, there are so many references to time that seem incidental until you add them up. I bet you're right that we see more of the time theme in book 7, especially if it has links to PoA the way OotP did to PS/SS and HBP did to CoS. And they're going to be racing against the clock to find all the Horcruxes before Voldemort figures out what they're on to or starts up the next phase of his master plan.

[meepalicious.livejournal.com]

I'd never thought of it before, but I bet Mrs. Weasley makes them. I certainly can't see her buying them - they're too in sync with her routine, and something like that would certainly cost a pretty penny.

[sunnyskywalker]

It's hard to imagine her buying lots of expensive timepieces, yeah. (Well, the Weasleys occasionally splurge on trips to Egypt and such, but they won the lotto that time!) And they are so very personalized.

[truthbeauty1.livejournal.com]

I like that you bring up the time turners. I thought there was something odd about the way they are addressed in HBP. Rowling makes a point of telling us, thru Hermione, that all of the time turners have been destroyed. That is a detail that we could easily forget at this moment in the book. She brings it up though, in an almost unnatural way. I think the time turners might just show up again for some purpose.

[sunnyskywalker]

Yes, that did stick out! "Nothing to see here; just a potential future plot point. Moving on." But then we get distracted by all the other stuff that happens and forget...

Not sure...

[buzzfloyd.livejournal.com]

I really like this idea, but I think Mrs Weasley's comment at the beginning of HBP - "I don't know anyone else who has one quite like it" or words to that effect - gives the impression that she didn't make it but got hold of it from somewhere else. Or is that just me?

Re: Not sure...

[sunnyskywalker]

Ah, I didn't think of that. You could be right. Then again, maybe she's bragging :D

Re: Not sure...

[rogueravenclaw.livejournal.com]

Or, if it really is super secret, she doesn't want anyone to suspect that she is the maker of the clock.

On a random side note, lots of comparisons are made between Mrs. Weasley's behavior and Hermione's. Hermione's a bright witch. Intelligence isn't necessarily related to behavior, but perhaps there's something to that...

[claystarling.livejournal.com]

Your music is, of course, appropriate.

[sunnyskywalker]

Yep! I even considered the Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz maybe-connection (hey, an orphan growing up with aunt and uncle going to a magical world like Harry!) because I'm just that obsessive sometimes :D