‘The Clock Man’
Of Randolph
By Courtney Bonoyer

Charles Sjobeck works on repairs at his shop in Randolph. (Herald / Zach Nelson)

If there is one person who doesn’t have to worry about not knowing the time it’s Charlie Sjobeck.

Sjobeck owns a clock shop tucked away in a little corner of Randolph by the highway. Stepping into his showroom, one sees walls covered in various types of clocks, including Vienna regulators, banjos and double-dial calendars. There are also rows of timepieces to walk through, such as anniversary clocks and grandfather clocks.

For Sjobeck, repairing clocks started out as a hobby, due to its mechanical challenge. He has repaired and sold them as a business for about 30 years. Not only does he like the challenge, he enjoys "the beauty of old clocks," and likes "taking an old clock and giving it back it’s dignity, bringing it back to life."

Sjobeck has over 400 clocks, although three of them reside in his home. Two of his favorites are banjo clocks and pillar and scroll clocks. Other interesting ones he has include the paper maché clocks from Plattsburgh, N.Y., and a clock made in England that dates back to 1775. Sjobeck also has a hand-carved clock made in Austria.

He gets a lot of the clocks he sells from people who are downsizing or moving away. Inside the repair shop, there are bits and pieces of clocks, because when someone needs their grandfather clock repaired, Sjobeck doesn’t need the whole clock. He leaves the frame and just takes the inner workings and props them up on a test stand.

Asked what was the best seller out of his clocks, Sjobeck said there isn’t a consistent one. For no rhyme or reason, an anniversary clock may be popular one year and not sell at all the year after. Grandfather clocks may not be bought for three years but then be the most desirable one all of a sudden. There is one type of clock that consistently doesn’t sell well and that’s the 30-hour splat and column clock. Although this is a beautiful mantle clock, he said many people do not have mantles anymore, so they just don’t buy mantle clocks.

Helping Sjobeck with all the clocks is his son, Skip, who is learning the trade and has been helping out for 10 years.

In addition to selling to local customers at his showroom, Sjobeck also ships his clocks all over the world to places that include Hawaii, Colombia and Japan.

____________