Outside of Ohio?
Perhaps you found our website, but you do not live in Ohio, or feel you are too far away to take advantage of our services. You searched locally but haven’t been able to find anyone in your area. Maybe, you locate a few clock shops nearby but none of them seem qualified to help you or they are not as close to you as you would like. You've got an old clock and you would rather not ship it if possible. What do you do? It's true, qualified clockmakers are few and far between. Although it would be an exaggeration to say it is a dying art, there are quite a few cities that have no clockmakers at all. If this has been your experience, I would highly recommend that you start by reading our “How to Choose a Clockmaker” page or visit “www.awci.com”. The American Watchmakers Clockmaker Institute is the national organization for those who work on clocks and watches. To search for someone close to you, click on this link, "find a professional”. When you do, you will be able to search based on your state or zip code. you can also limit your search to certified clock or watchmakers only.
If you still are unable to find a clockmaker within a reasonable distance, you may be left with no choice other than shipping or traveling. Obviously, neither is convenient, but at times, necessary. If traveling is out of the question, then shipping is your only option. Since we no longer ship clocks for repair ourselves, you will need to reach out to other potential clockmakers. It will be very helpful if you start the conversation with:
"Hello, I'm (insert name), and I'm from (insert city and state). I have a (insert clock type) that is very important to me, and I am having trouble finding someone who can repair it. I understand that you are located (insert their city) and that it will most likely be more expensive, but do you accept repairs through the mail?"
This will save you and the clockmaker a lot of time. There are some shops that would just assume you will not follow through after hearing additional costs and the risks involved. Letting the clockmaker know that you have a clear understanding of the risks of shipping damage and additional shipping costs, may get you in the door when it would have otherwise been shut.
Having said all of this, be aware that we have serviced clocks for people all over the United States. Many would say that we are worth the trip. However, we do believe, that whenever possible, you are better served, if you can find someone close to you that can honor a warranty more easily than someone who might be hundreds of miles away.
We are fortunate enough to have done work for people all over the world. From the USA to Germany, the UK to the Carribean, from Israel to Cypress. It is an honor to be able to say that, however each one of those jobs made us a nervous wreck when it came time to ship them back. Almost every job shipped out arrived safely without problems, but there were a few that did not. Despite the countless hours repairing the clocks, building custom boxes, and making custom packaging a few clocks were damaged due to a few careless moments on the courier’s part. I've mentioned it on our "What is My Clock Worth?” page, but one of these incidents costs us 5 hours of our time, 13 emails and 9 phone calls to get sorted out. It was no fault of ours, nor the customer, but we felt a duty to our customer to make it right. This one specific job caused us to lose quite a bit of time and money even with the insurance pay out. Understanding that we are a shop consisting of only two clockmakers with no extra help, time away from the bench is money lost. Even when a customer handles the claim themselves, there is often additional work required of us, like photographing the damage and taking the damaged piece to the post office for inspection. We have since decided not to receive any repairs through the mail.