Expert: John Newman - 5/12/2007

Question
Dear John:

What the h... happened to Emperor Clock Co.,  over the years I've build 4 of their clocks and the quality was excellent.  Service on these is all but non existent.  I see that they have moved from Fairhope, Ala to Virginia.  Has the company been sold? The current selection is pathetic.  They only list two grandfather kits.  Actually only one kit but in two different type woods.  The original clock kit I put together was solid walnut.  They don't even offer walnut any longer.  I can buy good walnut all day long and use it a lot in my shop.  If it's costs they they've missed the boat as any respectable woodworker would pay the difference to get quality wood.

Thanks,

Lloyd

Answer
Lloyd, even though this isn't in my area of clock maintenance, I do have some thoughts in answer to your questions.  First, when you say that, "Service on these is all but non-existent.", I would offer that a qualified clockmaker could work on any movements of this type.  Some, who do not care to do the work do give you a song-and-dance about parts not available, etc.  I do work on them, or at least give you a full range of options on how to restore or replace them.  If you have read some of my answers on Allexperts, I have repeatedly stated that one of the movements supplied to Emperor had some excessive wear problems and in the mid-80's Emperor switched to a new supplier, who still manufactures the same movement for replacement.

In a brief chronological history, Emperor was sold to Hermle in the late 1990's.  Hermle chose to close the doors of Emperor in June of 2005, when they moved existing Emperor stock to their facility in Amherst, VA.  Just as a footnote, during this same time period, Ridgeway Clock Company was acquired by Howard Miller and Sligh ceased their clock manufacturing to concentrate on office furniture.  Other smaller companies have gone under, although a few can still be found. After closing the Emperor plant in Fairhope, AL, Hermle continued the Emperor name by first offering a small Emperor Internet catalog and then recently made available a hard copy catalog with more products.  At this time I do not know their future projections.   

So you can see that the clock industry has turned around rather drastically.  I will try to offer my explanation to what has happened to the clock kit building industry.  There were quite a few companies in the 1950's that offered clock kits.  This was a time when a many people were retiring and had fixed incomes and time on their hands.  They did a lot of woodworking and kit building.  I remember getting letters or calls at Emperor from people that had built many of the kits for relatives or friends or even for sale.  The Emperor basic clock repair school was started as a result of requests for those kit builders wanting to be able to maintain and service the clocks they had built.

But times have changed.  Our retirees now are taking second jobs, traveling, watching TV and spending a lot of time on their computers and the Internet.  Also the cost of wood has increased dramatically.  There are fewer clocks offered in walnut, cherry, mahogany and even oak.  The substitutions are alder, bass wood, ash and some softer woods that can be, as the furniture advitisers tout, "Walnut Finished, Cherry Finished, Maple Finished," etc.  Younger people are changing their residences more frequently and don't want to move an heirloom clock around.  Inexpensive foreign-made clocks are available at a throw-away price.  As you have referenced "any respectable woodworker", I have been involved in the process of trying to have the high quality clocks manufactured in in the USA in a production mode, and the costs have become prohibitive in trying to compete in the clock industry.  You have to have a certain number of buyers that will pay for the quality to which you are speaking.  And the clock industry is not seeing that.

I hope I have answered some of your concerns.  As you have indicated your feelings on this, I, too am in agreement.   If you have any more questions or discussion on this, feel free to contact me at my email address below.

John Newman
THE VILLAGE CLOCKSMITH
Historic Downtown Prattville
Alabama
klokdok@juno.com