Making repairs can be a challenge, because there are so many kinds of clocks, Deal says. She says sales are steady, about one or two a week, but she's selling more of the cheaper ones, which she attributes to the slower economy. A gift from her mother, now deceased, the clock "makes me feel like home," she says.Ĭhelius has 24 models in her shop, ranging from $1,000 to $3,500. For Benenati, her Howard Miller conjures memories of summers in South Florida with her aunt and uncle, who had a grandfather clock that greeted her in the morning. Simmons is an antiques buff whose eye was caught by an English longcase from the 1800s with its green painted face and dark oak cabinet. My husband died last week and he would never let me get one.' "įor Stacy Simmons of Amelia Island and Christine Benenati of Fleming Island, owning grandfather clocks were also lifelong dreams. "She said: 'I want to buy a grandfather clock. She tells the story of a 90-year-old woman who ran into the store, out of breath. "For some families, a grandfather clock is an achievement, something they've wanted for a long time." "They're timepieces and furniture, but they're also family heirlooms. "There's a surprising number of grandfather clocks out there," Deal said. Chelius said most clock repairers go to school for years to learn their craft and achieve "master clockmaker" designation, which means they can "take a whole movement apart and put it back together." She has three repairers on her staff with one in particular who works on grandfather clocks - also called longcases.įrom the looks of it, they'll all be busy for the foreseeable future. He began collecting books on repair and antiques, learning by reading and repairing. He began to work on his wife's clocks.Ī turning point was his successful restoration of his father-in-law's antique clock. Deal had a mechanical bent he had built go-carts as a child and repaired cars and trucks as an adult. His wife, like her father, collected clocks and was frustrated they couldn't find anyone to fix them. Sandmark does about 25 to 30 clock repairs a month, at an average cost of about $300 to $400, while Deal, who runs Rob's Clock Repair out of his Orange Park home, does two to three per week.ĭeal said he began working on clocks some 12 years ago as a favor. Grandfather clocks are big - sometimes 7 to 9 feet tall and weighing hundreds of pounds - so house calls are often made. That's where Deal and places like Sandmark come in. "They've been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more."Īnd because of their staying power, it's inevitable they'll eventually need fixing. "Grandfather clocks are classic items - not a fad," said Kerstin Chelius, president of Sandmark House on Beach Boulevard. Despite the economic downturn and attempts to modernize them with quartz mechanisms and other upgrades, the original timekeeper design remains a timeless, desirable classic. Like other repairers in the area, he's found there's still a need for his skills. Indeed, behind the handsome cabinet, carvings and glass lies a complex machine.ĭeal, self-taught, is an authorized repairman for the few clockmakers left, including Ridgeway, Howard Miller and Sligh (now Bulova). "When someone who isn't experienced gets in and messes with it," he says. Rob Deal doesn't take any time at all when asked to name his biggest challenge as a fixer of grandfather clocks.
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