Dec 5, 2014

Time has been good to Rick and Doris Graham. Married for over four decades, their livelihood spans four centuries. They sell clocks at their family business, the Maryland Clock Company located in Davidsonville, and repair some timekeepers that date as early as the 1700’s. Graham fixes the clocks and says his wife “does everything else.”

: Rick Graham reinstalls the repaired movement and the dial of a grandmother clock by Hamilton, a US company. The clock is about 40 years old. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Doris Graham pieces together the green marble casing on a 1904 Ansonia clock made in NY. Maryland Clock Co. is a family-owned business in existence since 1950. Rick Graham says he fixes the clocks, and his wife, Doris, “does everything else.” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick and Doris Graham are pictured in the Maryland Clock Co. showroom. The family business has been in existence since 1950. Grandfather, grandmother, mantel, wall, nautical, cuckoo and antique clocks are sold and repaired at this establishment. At far left is a grandmother clock made by the Maryland Clock Co. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham holds the movement of a clock. The movement is the mechanical moving parts that make the clock keep time. In layman’s terms, it’s commonly referred to as the “clockworks.” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham holds one of the main wheels and the main springs (left) of a mantel clock where the power in the clock originates. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham reinstalls the movement (the interior “clockworks”) of an Ansonia iron case mantel clock-made of cast iron metal-from the 1900’s. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham attaches the clock dial to an Ansonia iron case mantel clock circa 1900’s after he repaired and reinstalled the movement (known in layman’s terms as the “clockworks”). (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Maryland Clock Co., a family-owned business since 1950, sells and repairs all styles of mantel, wall and floor clocks. Maryland Clock Co. is a family-owned business in existence since 1950. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The clock dial is part of a Ridgeway grandfather clock made in the 1970’s. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The painted wooden clock dial is part of a Thomas Williams English grandfather clock made circa 1780. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: This is the clock dial on a Revere grandfather clock. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham uses a loop to magnify his work as he straightens the teeth on the escape wheel. The escape wheel is the final wheel in the power train of the clock movement. He wears wrist bands to support his wrists while working. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham straightens the teeth on the escape wheel. The escape wheel is the final wheel in the power train. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: This 1904 Ansonia clock encase in green marble was made in New York. In the background are grandfather clocks. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick and Doris Graham have collected clocks over the years. The 24K gold-leaf French clock (center) made in the late 1880’s is one of Doris’s favorite because of its age and the hand-painted detail. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: This Seth Thomas Schoolhouse wall clock includes a beat plaque which measures the accuracy of the pendulum swing. This clock is one of Rick’s favorites. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Cuckoo clocks line the wall in the work room. Graham says that except for a short time after WWII when the Japanese tried their skill at making the cuckoo clock, Germany is the only country that makes the “real” -mechanical, weight-driven cuckoo clocks. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: This is a detail of a chalet cuckoo clock made in Germany. The clock is about 20 years old. Maryland Clock Co. is a family-owned business in existence since 1950. Graham says that except for a short time after WWII when the Japanese tried their skill at making the cuckoo clock, Germany is the only country that makes the “real” -mechanical, weight-driven- cuckoo clocks. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Rick Graham watches as a delivery truck with a grandfather clock for repair is unloaded. Mechanical, weight-driven Grandfather, grandmother, mantel, wall, nautical, cuckoo and antique clocks are sold and repaired at this establishment. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The iron weights and wood-leaf pendulum are from a cuckoo clock about 80 years old. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The grandmother clock in the center was made by the Maryland Clock Co. The clocks surrounding it are grandfather clocks which are taller and do not have a “cinched waist,” where the center section is narrower than the top and bottom. Grandfather clocks measure from 80 to 108 inches high. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The Japy FreresFrench statue clock circa 1880 is made of brass with porcelain numbers on the clock dial. Maryland Clock Co. is a family-owned business in existence since 1950. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

Rick Graham’s father, Bob, began the clock repair business in 1950. Rick Graham, an only child, took over the shop at nineteen when his father passed away in 1973. Years later, Rick and Doris Graham expanded the company to include selling clocks.

Grandfather, grandmother, wall, mantel, nautical and cuckoo clocks from the United States, England, France and Germany fill the showroom floor. Two grandmother clocks, distinguished from grandfather clocks by their “cinched waists” and shorter height, were made by the Maryland Clock Company and sell for $2,500 each.

The oldest and largest clocks Graham repairs are the English tall case grandfather clocks from the 1760’s where the clock dial -known in layman’s terms as the clock face- is made from wood.

Rick Graham performs the mechanical repairs, and the overhauling of clocks which involves using volatile chemicals. He makes three to four “house calls” to peoples’ homes every morning to service grandfather clocks before heading to his workshop. Doris Graham manages the showroom, handles the cosmetic clock repairs, and teaches owners how to operate their antique clocks. “A lot of people inherit clocks and don’t know the history,” she says. In addition to managing the showroom, she owns a travel agency next door to the showroom with her daughter, Sarah Kline.

Doris, 59, and her husband, 61, met in the Hyattsville area where they both lived when she was twelve and he was fourteen. They began dating two years later. Since then, she has worked alongside him in the business. Doris reminisces, “Instead of going on dates, we would set up clocks. He’d always take me out to lunch or dinner afterwards.” The business has always been a family affair. “We raised all three of our kids in the back of the clock shop. We used to have a playpen in the back room,” she says.

Being self-employed allows Graham to work at his own pace. “I like to make my own rules,” he says. Also interested in music, Graham studied classical guitar for eight years and was part of a soul band in his teens.

Graham describes an older clock as, “the ultimate green machine because… it serves you for a week and only requires less than a minute of your time to wind it up.” A French brass mantle clock from the 1880’s with ornately sculpted figures; a porcelain clock decorated in 24K gold leaf, and an English grandfather clock from the 1760’s are just a few of the gems for repair or display in the showroom. Graham says, “The thing about most old clocks [is] they’re all unique and not going to be created like that again, ever.”

The couple have hopes that a member of the family will take over the business whenever they retire. Time will tell.

Story and photos by Algerina Perna | aperna@baltsun.com

Keeping things ticking with the Maryland Clock Company

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