Mortimore working 'round the clocks

A walk up the stairs at Mortimore Funeral Home calls to mind scenes from timeless silver screen treasures such as Back to the Future and Hook, but for Mike Mortimore, there's riches of another kind in his clock repair shop.

Mortimore said he wants to work in the arena of clock repair, and between his shop and his home he has 80-100 clocks that he plans to sell. He's gone to shops in other towns and seen that they sell for $400-500, but he plans to sell them for half that price.

The clocks in the shop are of all sizes and styles, including tall cases, grandmother/granddaughter, anniversary, grandfather and, of course, cuckoos. He even has an elaborate Gazo. When the hour, half-hour or quarter-hour strikes, it's a whirlwind of birds peeking from tiny windows, chimes and ticks.

Aside from the clocks, the shop is covered with movements, chimes and other parts, as well as an array of tools to work with.

Mortimore started with a cuckoo clock he found at an antique store and repaired. "I kind of caught the bug," he said. He also got the movement for an old clock of his grandfather's and got it up and running again. He noted that he began his studies into clock repair about four months ago, and noted he is not a clock rebuilder.

"That's why I bought all the movements, is to better learn repair." The horologists, he added, who are the certified clock repair people, will completely take a clock movement apart, put it through an ultrasonic cleaner and really rebuild it. "I like to do an intact cleaning. That's where you actually take the movement that's intact, put it through an ultrasonic cleaner, dry it well, oil it and get it working."

While horologists might say that isn't a thorough cleaning, Mortimore noted most people can't afford to get their clocks running for the $300-400 that a horologist would charge, where an intact cleaning costs around $100.

He has so many clocks now that he's considered opening up a store, but noted people typically use their phones to check time.

"I was thrilled to death the other day when all that power went out. I didn't have to do a doggone thing. My clocks were all running. And there's something soothing about the tick of a clock. Even in our house we have almost 40 clocks and we sleep like babies, it's like a gentle rain."

Mortimore said there are still tons of skills to learn, which will take a number of years, but he is working on some clocks now and it's easy to see he's putting his time to good use.