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Merritt’s Clock Shop Tour
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Directly across the driveway from Merritt’s Antique Showroom are Merritt’s renowned
Clock Shop and Clock Parts Store. Built in the 50’s to house the increasing collection
of antique clocks and parts purchased by Robert and Mary Merritt, the clock shop and
parts supply quickly obtained a national reputation for variety, quality and price.
The few steps leading to the Clock Shop are sheltered by a huge, weight driven pendulum
clock mounted to the roof of the cinder block building.
To the left of the entrance door is the collection of antique Grandfather Clocks that
must have resonantly struck time centuries before. First to greet upon entering the clock
shop is a nine-foot, German Grandfather Clock elegantly carved and all black (sadly, not
ebony, but stained wood). The carvings are in an artisan or entertainment mode, perhaps,
since it is a one-of-a-kind clock made for someone, they were people in the arts and
entertainment world. Opposite the clock is an English music box hanging next to a wall
clock, distinctive for it’s vertical construction rather than the usual flat box to sit
on a table. Additional disks for that, and the other music boxes in the Clock Shop, hang
on the wall next to the English music box. A few steps further back is a Jacob Kling
grandfather clock, dated 1776, an auspicious date to be sure. While signing his clocks
with that name, his real name was Jacob Klingman, a clockmaker in Reading, Pennsylvania
through the Revolutionary War and into the early 19th century. While the movements in
most of the American made clocks of that period were imported from England or Germany,
the cabinets were made here. It is wonderful that Merritt’s Clock Shop has a clock made
by someone who lived and worked just fifteen minutes away. There are dozens of grandfather
clocks, antique wall clocks, music boxes, and antique, original Black Forest Cuckoo
Clocks in this section of the shop.
Along the back wall are several shelves, filled with mantel or table clocks, most of
them in this section have metal casings. The clocks of Italian and French origin are
quickly spotted with their elaborate figures and flowing Rococo design and gilding.
Of particular note is an Italian mantel clock with a variegated marble casing, and
two matching sidepieces of the same variegated marble in the base and sides.
The sidepieces have a very shallow, dish-like top, raising the question whether it
was simply for decoration or what may have been placed in them. They are too small
for flowers; there is no holder for a candle, often a “side” addition to metal clocks.
Whatever, if any, utilitarian purpose they might have served, the clock and sidepieces
are an attractive, elegant display. Next to that clock is a Swiss music box, unique
and more complex than an average music box because in addition to the tuned teeth that
play the notes are six bells. The bells have their own teeth, integrated on the
cylinder into the music presentation. The box uses a cylinder, which makes it older
than those later music boxes that used disks, which is powered by a spring wound with
a ratchet. Interestingly, the cylinder can be adjusted in distance from the teeth by a
lever providing a variety of pre-set tunes.
Moving to the other side of Merritt’s Clock Shop, around the sales case filled with
pocket watches, wrist watches, tools for clock repair, and small nightstand clocks
is a display of Howard Miller clocks. Merritt’s Antiques is a stocking dealer for
Howard Miller clocks, now undoubtedly the largest manufacturer of floor clocks in
the country. Howard Miller founded the company in 1926, having learned about clock
making from his father, Herman, in the Black Forest region of Bavaria. While
originally manufacturing wall and mantel clocks, the company expanded to bring the
beauty and presence of floor clocks to a whole new generation starting in 1960. The
company, located in Zeeland, Michigan, has as it’s motto “Incomparable workmanship,
unsurpassed quality, a quest for perfection” and the expression of that motto can be
seen in the row of floor, mantel, bracket, and table clocks displayed in Merritt’s
Clock Shop. In addition to those displayed, as an authorized dealer for Howard Miller
clocks, a catalogue of all the clocks, cabinets, and other furniture available from
the company is on hand from which a customer can order. True to an older time, many
of the Howard Miller clocks are weight driven or spring driven with a functioning
pendulum to keep the time accurately and winding arbors for the weights or springs.
There are also some quartz driven clocks, some with spinning pendulums and other
extra moving parts, which tend to be more “modern” looking that the traditional wood
cases.
Beyond the Howard Miller display are six rows of shelves filled with almost every
variety of table and mantel clocks imaginable. Above those shelves, with very little
space between, are wall and cuckoo clocks to meet every taste and décor. One section
of wall space is given to a display of banjo clocks, popular in the late 19th century,
with the amazing variety of art and inlays typical of that style. Most of the clocks
in these rows have wood cases, although some Rococo influenced metal designs are also
shown.
Along the side wall is just a hint of the quantity of clock parts available through
Merritt’s Clock Parts Shop, adjacent to the Clock Shop: a selection of spring driven
clock movements. In the annex to the Clock Shop are cases with even more clock
movements. The supply of movements, in addition to parts as small as a balance wheel
or second hand, continues throughout the Clock parts shop. The overwhelming supply of
carefully catalogued and inventoried parts makes it easy to understand why Merritt’s
Clock Parts Shop is so well known and used by clock repair professionals throughout
the country. Not only from this brief article, but also from browsing Merritts.com
you will see some of the extent of Merritt’s Clock Shop and Parts Shop. Of course,
the best way to experience, touch, and hear the array of clocks is to visit us. Our
Clock Shop stock changes very often, as our specialists purchase clocks and upgrade
our selection and as people, like you, purchase clocks for their homes. We hope to
see you soon . . . and often!
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