Tick Tock, Tick Tock: Upstate man turns passion for antique grandfather clocks into timely business

Randy Cobb’s home along the shore of Lake Bowen is filled by the sound of seconds ticking away.

Cobb’s home houses his collection of 25 antique grandfather clocks, some dating to the 1700s, and his business, Legacy Antique Clocks. His collection started after he spent four years as an electrical engineer stationed in England with the U.S. Air Force.

He credited his passion for clocks to Alan Smith, his neighbor in Swindon, England, whose family had built and refurbished clocks for more than 150 years.

“That’s what got me started. Let’s face it, in England, I needed a hobby. There aren’t many days like this,” he said on a warm, sun-soaked afternoon.

During his time in England, Cobb said he became a clock fanatic. He began buying and refurbishing as many as he could, all while adding to his growing collection.

He said at its peak, his collection reached 59 grandfather clocks.

“Thank God I was single then,” he said with a laugh. “My wife would have killed me.”

Cobb’s wife, Marsha, said his passion for grandfather clocks has caught on with her.

“It’s really pretty fun,” she said. “I like the big, tall ones the most.”

Cobb’s favorite clock in his collection is an automaton clock with a man chopping wood above the dial. Automaton clocks feature moving pieces and, as each second goes by, the small man lifts and brings an axe down on a tree.

Cobb’s other most-prized clock was made by a man named James Taylor in Bristol, England. The clock, another automaton, features an old English ship rocking back and forth on a large wave as time ticks by.

“They’re rare, so I needed to snatch them up,” he said.

Cobb said he tried to sell the clock to singer James Taylor when he performed at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, but Taylor already had purchased a piece made by the clockmaker of the same name. Cobb has developed an attachment to the James Taylor clock, and it, along with the wood-chopping automaton, are the two clocks he said he will never part with.

Aside from automatons, Cobb’s collection features fusee clocks, which are known for their extreme accuracy – including a clock from a pub in Dublin, Ireland, and a clock he bought at a market in Paris to commemorate the trip.

Cobb also owns an 8-bell and a 9-bell clock, which he said are very rare finds. His 9-bell clock is a Harrison & Sons clock from Liverpool, England. He said the clock dates back to the 1760s, one of the more modern of his collection.

“This one is quite a rare find,” he said.

A lot of refurbishing work goes into bringing the centuries-old clocks back to life, Cobb said. He has spent anywhere from a month to almost a year repairing old grandfather clocks.

“I go in and make it like new to last another 100 or 200 years,” he said.

A registered member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Cobb said the organization plays a major role in keeping the art and appreciation of grandfather clocks alive.

“It’s a dying art, it really is,” he said.

He has traveled to multiple NAWCC regional shows to both show off his collection and gaze at some of the rare clocks he doesn’t have. He said one of the most challenging events involved bringing eight grandfather clocks to Orlando, Fla., for a show.

“It was a feat to set it all up, but I love it, so I didn’t mind,” he said.

Cobb’s oldest clock dates back to 1720. It was made by a man named Richard Midgley, who made guns for the British Navy. Cobb said Midgley only made a handful of clocks, so the one sitting beside a window in his basement is very rare.

He added that because of its age, refurbishing it has been hard because the right parts can be difficult to find.

“It’s a bit of a problem child,” he said. “It doesn’t always like to run. It’s still in process.”

Along with the clocks that fill Cobb’s basement, three revamped jukeboxes are available to play some music over the ticking of the more than 20 clocks.

“This one was painted orange,” he said, pointing to a now green and wooden-trimmed jukebox. “It was awful. There’s a passion for both (clocks and jukeboxes) because they’re mechanical.”

Last week, Cobb sold one of his clocks to a buyer from Kiawah Island, and he planned to deliver the clock himself.

Cobb said he has tried – unsuccessfully – to get his grandsons interested in the world of antique clocks. He said he hopes that one day his passion will be inherited by them.

“It’s history. It’s part of history,” he said. “They’re not at that point in their life where they see things like this and appreciate the historical significance of it. I hope they get there some day. To be able to say, ‘I repaired it and it will last longer than me,’ and to know someone will look at it and wonder who repaired it, that’s really special.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Tick Tock, Tick Tock: Upstate man turns passion for antique grandfather clocks into timely business."