The pendulum swings in favor of the customer at this Mount Dora shop

From the very beginning, man has yearned to know exact time of day. From cuckoo to grandfather and quartz to mechanical, Thee Clockmaker’s Shoppe is a popular Lake County destination to purchase or repair a clock, as well as an interesting window into the history of timepieces.

Opened five years by Roy Gress, the shop is located in the heart of downtown Mount Dora on Fifth Avenue. The ever present chatter of chimes and tick-tocks emanate from the shop, which features the new, such as quartz cow clocks that moo on the hour, and the old, including antique timepieces from as early as the 18th century.

In his previous career, Gress created enchanting sets as a scenic carpenter for theme parks and television shows. After learning the clockmaker trade from his father-in-law, Gress thought the time was right for a vocation change.

“I realized why I am running around chasing these jobs when there is a huge volume of clock-repair work available,” he said. “These are literally pieces of history and it’s our job as qualified clockmakers to not only repair them, but to conserve these pieces of history.”

Gress, along with fellow clockmaker Jay Greystone, pride themselves in customer service. Any clock purchased from the shop is guaranteed to be free from defects in craftsmanship for one year. Thee Clockmaker’s Shoppe is also dedicated in educating its customers about the intricacies of trying to handle and set up clocks.

“It’s not always about the timekeeping, but preserving the family nostalgia,” Gress said. “It’s just like a junked car doesn’t have a lot of value, but a restored one sure does.”

The clockmaker duo is proficient in repair of three centuries of clock design, even those crafted before the Civil War.

“Probably even one older, but no one has brought one in.” Greystone said.

Most clocks need to be serviced every three to five years, however after 25 years of wear and dust build up, a clock generally needs to be rebuilt, Gress said. He also warns customers about the danger of trying self clock repair. While ordinary wear can be repaired, the fiddling of a handyman can sometimes be irreversible.

“The way you repair a late 1800s French clock is not the same way you repair a 1800s American clock,” Greystone said.