My wife is not a musician. She has vivid memories of her childhood visiting a friends house that had a metronome. She said she wants one and her birthday is come up in 6 weeks. So, what's a good brand, and what can I expect to pay?

Assuming she wants a mechanical one vs. electronic. I paid I think $75 for a nice Wittner. This was back in the 80s I think.

If it's just for nostalgia, then something off Amazon would work. $35.


You can get some pretty fancy ones with mahogany or walnut for $150-300.

I'm assuming you're talking about the traditional wooden base pendulum type?

People either love them, or hate them. I find them soothing.

Yes, the old style.

I have an old Franz model. Looks like ebay has a few.

And check your pawn shops, too.

$50 for a mechanical one. Wittner has made them for decades.


You can get a free metronome app for you phone.

That's something now best left to phone apps. You can set BPMs and odd time signatures for anything.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
That's something now best left to phone apps. You can set BPMs and odd time signatures for anything.

True, but a mechanical metronome is a nice piece of nostalgia which may be worth more than using your phone, which I do most of the time because it is easy.

Chess clocks are the same. I have an old Jerger mechanical chess clock as well as a Chronos digital clock. Both are great for different reasons.

I think the OP needs it as a display piece only. A phone app, though advanced, probably wouldn't look that impressive on the mantle.

One note for your consideration, the cheaper ones are knock-offs from China, and made of wood-grained plastic.

A new real Wittner with a wood case runs from around $140 to several hundred.

Ebay has a bunch for sale. I would think she would want something similar to what she saw in her youth. The site can select "used" and "wood". It looked like there were some good ones for not a lot of money.