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October 2021
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Allen County Edition Ed E Reaching Fort Wayne And Surrounding Counties
Vol. 34, No. 6 V
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com
on his hands 7H[W DQG 3KRWRV %\ 9,1&( /$%$5%(5$ %(5$ )HDWXUH :ULWHU Commonly, if someone has time on their hands it means he or she has too much free time and not enough to do. But that’s not the case with Jim Hansen and his wife, Laurel, proprietors of The Clock Shoppe, 7202 Old Trail Road, Fort Wayne. Jim literally has time on his hands throughout the day as he delves into repairing the many clocks on his walls and workbench. Born in Milwaukee with four other siblings, his family eventually moved to Winneconne near Oshkosh, Wis. Hansen studied at the University of Wisconsin campus in Oshkosh but didn’t complete his degree. He worked a variety of jobs including driving a city bus in Steamboat Springs, Col. when in 1989 he met Laurel Uhlig, from Fort Wayne. Hansen joked that he picked her up on the bus. It was also her birthday. They got acquainted, married in 1990 and moved to the Summit City. Hansen completed his bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis on metals at Indiana University, Fort Wayne. He worked a variety of part-time jobs including an 18-month stint at Zales Jewelry Store and 10 years at Peter Franklin Jewelers. Hansen became proficient as a goldsmith, specializing in working with precious metals. He learned to repair and create about any style of jewelry and often worked on time pieces. “I’ve always enjoyed fixing broken things,” added Hansen. “I like clocks even though I have few of my own.”
When their third child was born, Hansen left Peter Franklin to become a stay-athome dad for 10 years while Laurel worked as an intensive care nurse.” For many years there was a clock-repair shop in the Waynedale area. When he noticed it was for sale, Hansen bought the business located on Lower Huntington Road on April Fool’s Day 2013. “How foolish was that?” he questioned himself at the time. Business was good (too good) and Hansen struggled to keep up with it on his own; so, Laurel retired from nursing and transitioned from a silent partner to an active one. “Now, nothing goes on that she’s not a part of,” Hansen said. Three years ago, they left renting behind and purchased their current location. Hansen was trying to do the repair work and all those other things as well, and it was just too much, he stressed. “The toughest part of clock repair is just finding out what’s wrong,” Hansen continued. Sometimes he gets a clock to work fine in the shoppe but when the customer gets it home it quits again. “Maybe the mantel where the customer places it is not level and the clock stops,” he related. “It takes time to find what’s wrong and repair it correctly. That’s the difficult part and it can take all day,” he emphasized. For really difficult repairs Hansen turns to resources such as his membership in the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors and his contacts with other horologists, some of whom have 50,60 years’ experience. “Sometimes,” he concluded. “You just have to admit it can’t be fixed because there’s a ghost in the mechanism. It should work, but it doesn’t! But that’s rare. All in all, we enjoy the work a great deal.”
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