LC Van Savage: Clocks and the Clock Whisperer

Happens I have a huge clock idee fixe, which is a fancy-shmancy way of saying I have a clock mania. I am fascinated by them, all kinds, old, new, ancient — I love clocks.

I don’t have much of an obsession about time, exactly. I mean, at my nearly 86 years, that ship has sailed, and I don’t pay a lot of attention to the passing of time. It’s all zooming past rather too quickly, so I’ve decided to sort of ignore all that. After all, passing my time worrying about the about the passing of my time is a bit of an exercise in futility, right?

No, it’s clocks I love. If I am in one of the rooms of my home and want to know the time, I do not want to have to even turn my head to check it out — moving my eyes should be enough. I have to have enough clocks around, so they just present the time at a glance. Wind-ups? I used to think it was a sin to have a battery driven clock or watch — not so much anymore. When one has to wind up an inordinate amount of time pieces, battery driven clocks seem to be a pleasant convenience. I do, however, prefer the wind-ups.

But enough about me. There’s a man I know who loves clocks in ways to which I can’t even begin to compare. His name is Tim Martel, ex-Naval officer, and he lives in a wonderful home with a charming, super friendly and pretty wife named Bev, and where every single wall and surface is covered with fascinating and mostly very old clocks, all which I know have engrossing stories to tell if only they could tell us.

Tim tells me that years ago he went into a shop and on a whim bought an old clock, and from then on, the clock floodgates opened. He could not stop. Tim is the go-to guy around here if you need information on a clock of any age, and the man even fixes them. You need some weird part someone in the early 1800s jury-rigged for the family grandfather clock that somehow got lost? Tim Martel can figure it out and can recreate it. His basement is a joy, just crammed with clocks absolutely everywhere, in various stages of repair, hanging up, lying down, in boxes, on top of and under things. To a clock freak such as I, it’s like being in the most magical toy shop ever. The sounds in Tim and Bev’s home is a glorious symphony of clicks and clacks, ticks and tocks, chimes and gongs, clanks, whirs, and buzzes. To someone who worships clocks, and I do, it is paradise being there. And Tim can tell you a long or short story about all of them, where he found them, their ages, who owned them. It’s a great experience being in the Martel Clock Museum. The man is simply steeped in amazing time pieces.

Several years ago, Tim and a group of clock nerds who are members of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) banded together and decided to save a huge Seth Thomas street clock in Portland Maine called the Hay and Peabody Clock. It’s way tall, a huge four-faced ball clock, just standing there, slowly dying for over 95 years, rusting, all four faces frozen at the time the old clock gave up, when no one ever came to wind it again. The group that restored this old beautiful Seth Thomas clock are also members of Chapter 89 of the NAWCC and they meet at the Masonic Hall on Baribeau drive in Brunswick. Anyone interested in joining, call Tim Martel at (207) 751-6892. Folks, if you are a clock person, think about this group — it is all they talk about!

These guys really saved that magnificent old street clock! After countless hours and re-milling, calculating, re-imagining, carving, planning, researching and recreating those ancient innards, they resuscitated that marvelous old clock which now tells everyone passing by what the time is. No more winding with a huge key while standing on a ladder, they modernized the innards of that big beauty so the time is told electronically. Big and bold, white faces, huge numbers, the steel stand and frames are again all dark green as the originals were. That magnificent now cared-for time piece now proudly restored is at 749 Congress St. and is a testimony to clock adoratio everywhere. When I see it, I speak to it. Silently of course. Yes, I think it answers. Tim Martel would agree.