June 29, 1960

Do you have a valuable clock that doesn’t work or needs refinishing? Have you neglected to get it done simply because you couldn’t find anyone qualified?

There is a man in El Paso who can refurbish your grandfather or other antique dock, and he knows what he’s doing.

He is Herman Abel, horologist — that means clock expert —who owns the Clock Manor at 4218 Montana avenue.

Wooden Movements

Mr. Abel is not just a clock fixer. He won’t touch a $5 clock you bought at the variety store. He is a man who has devoted his life to the mechanics and principles of fine timepieces. He can order or make parts for a good clock, he can tell you why it runs and how it runs and how to best care for it. In short, Herman Abel loves clocks.

He has quite a collection of fine and ancient clocks of his own, on display in his shop — a wooden movement clock made in 1792 by S. Hoadley in Plymouth, England, another English clock made in England and presented to John Hanson, second president of the Continental Congress and signer of the Thirteen Articles of Confederation, clocks with moving religious figures, clocks with different traditional chimes, and transistor battery operated clocks.

Started as Child

However, Mr. Abel does not deal in antiques alone. He sells and repairs modern clocks—but only, he is careful to point out, clocks made by companies that have been in good reputation, for at least 50 years. “Modern clocks made traditional,” as he puts it, are among his favorites.

Mr. Abel’s love for fine clocks is perhaps explained by his phrase, “These clocks will be here when you and I are dead and gone.” His father was a clockmaker and Mr. Abel took up the hobby—now a vocation — when he was eight years old. He has been working with clocks for the 45 years since then.

Mr. Abel built and repaired clocks in St. Louis before coming to El Paso last year with his wife and two children. “I was planning to retire down here,” he said. “I lasted about six months before I decided I was going to go crazy if I didn’t get back with my clocks.”

Mr. Abel still receives letters from former customers in St. Louis wondering where he went. Some of them mail their clocks for repair.

“The trouble with people nowadays,” said Mr. Abel, “is that they don’t understand or appreciate what a good clock is. You can trace the history of civilization through man’s attempts to tell time. The first method—and it’s still used in Malaya – was to notch the inside of half of a large nut shell, put a pinhole in the bottom and set it in a vessel of water. The water would then slowly fill the shell to the various levels of the notches. The ancient Egyptians used a crude sundial—a long board marked into sections with a crossarm that cast the sun’s lengthening shadow on the sections. The conventional sundial as we know it, probably came into use in the Eighth Century A.D., followed by the pendulum clock and finally the spring wound timepiece of today.

“A properly cared for, fine clock will last for generations,” said Mr. Abel. “People these days seem to be impressed only by ornamentation. They don’t even care for a high degree of efficiency. Of course, there’s no such thing as a clock that keeps perfect time, but it stand to reason that a$5 or $10 clock isn’t going to give good service very long.

“And, of course, if you can have a functioning clock that is at the same time beautiful and ornamental – why, then you’ve really got something worthwhile.”

Craftsmanship is the only answer, Mr. Abel insists. The fin clock is one thing that modern civilization has not yet been able to duplicate with mass production.

“A clock is like silverware or literature or music,” Mr. Abel said. “It’s an indication of people’s cultural excellence. If people are satisfied with cheaply make, non-quality goods. Then there’s not much you can do unless you want to try to teach them.”

Mr. Abel does not want teach people to appreciate clocks. He is interested in the people who already know what a fine clock is.