Vintage clock repairs always pose an interesting challenge. And we’ve been getting our fair share of them lately. Recently, we’ve had the privilege of repairing two McClintock-Loomis clocks—one in Grand Rapids, MI and one in Park Rapids, MN. It’s always exciting to see a McClintock-Loomis clock. The Minneapolis clockmaker has an intriguing story.
The McClintock-Loomis Clock Company was only in business for 9 years – from 1908 to 1917. That means all of their clocks are at least 103 years old. And yet many of their clocks are still keeping time—with help from updated clockworks, of course.
In 1917, the Minneapolis Golden Jubilee 1867-1917 touted the company for having their clocks, “in the four corners of the United States… from Port Townsend, WA to Rockland, ME, and from Fort Meyer, FL to Corpus Christi, TX and San Diego, CA.”1 Their clocks are still found in cities throughout the United States today.
What Made McClintock-Loomis Clocks So Popular?
In part, it was their marketing. In 1901, O.B. McClintock started the American Bank Protection company, which made burglar alarm systems for banks. He teamed up with Freeman Loomis to form the McClintock-Loomis Clock Company in 1908.2 McClintock-Loomis marketed their clocks to the customers McClintock already knew well—banks.
Many of their ads featured the tagline “We sell to but one bank in each city or town,”3 which created a sense of urgency to be the first bank in town to get one. It also meant their buyers were guaranteed something functional, yet unique.
But the clocks are also good-looking and made with quality. McClintock-Loomis Clocks featured:
- Seth Thomas clockworks, which were high-quality clockworks, especially for the time.
- An indoor masterclock controlling an outdoor tower clock. This is commonplace today, but at the time, many street clocks still required winding. Keeping clocks running on a building exterior posed a challenge. Having an outdoor clock that was controlled by an easily accessible indoor clock provided an elegant solution.
- Characteristic chimes that sounded every quarter-hour. The clocks had different chimes for each quarter hour, and on the hour. The chimes were based on the Cambridge Chimes from the Westminster Great Clock, in the UK.4
- Illuminated clock dials
- Many also featured decorative stained glass with the business’s name on it. Some were made with a brass, bronze and/or copper housing. This made the clocks an impressive advertisement for the banks they adorned.
In 1917, Freeman Loomis left the McClintock-Loomis Clock Company. It became the O.B. McClintock Company. McClintock Clocks are often identifiable by a logo on four corners of the clock faces. You can tell if it’s a McClintock-Loomis Clock or an O.B. McClintock Clock by looking at the logo. On the McClintock-Loomis logo, the left bar of the M also forms an L. On the O.B. McClintock logo, the lower bar forming the L is missing.4
The O.B. McClintock Company continued selling clocks under its new name until 1950, when it was acquired by Diebold.2 After the acquisition, it became difficult to locate original parts for McClintock clocks. Many fell into disrepair. Luckily, though, there are people out there who consider the clocks an important part of history. And are committed to getting these wonderful pieces working again.
Vintage Tower Clock Repair – Bringing a McClintock-Loomis Clock back to Life
We recently had the opportunity to supply parts and guidance to such people in Park Rapids, MN. Their goal was to get a century-old McClintock-Loomis clock working again.
The clock hangs on Fuller’s Gun & Pawn Shop, located on the corner of 2nd and Main Street. The building originally housed First National Bank. The shop is currently owned by Royce Holland. He took it over from his sister and late brother-in-law, Betty and Jerry Fuller.5
Jeff Fieldsend, a local electrician, has been working on the clock since late 2018. His mother Judy, a friend of the Fullers, asked him to try to fix the clock that summer. He finally got around to looking at it that October, and he’s been donating his time to the cause ever since.6
Jeff was able to fix the south clock face by reattaching some loose wires. He was later able to illuminate the clock with LED lights. But the north face of the clock wasn’t quite as easy to repair. The hands weren’t calibrated properly anymore, and it consistently displayed incorrect time. Jeff reached out to several clockmakers,finally finding Lumichron, to see about getting replacement parts for the vintage clock.
One of the challenges he faced when searching for replacement parts was that the dial on the clock had a 1/2” hole. Fortunately, our NU-90t movement fits this constraint. After some discussion, the owners decided to modernize the inner workings of the entire clock. In addition to an NU-90t movement for each clock face, the upgrades included 2 custom hand sets, and an HN-60 master clock.
We made each set of Roman Spade hands to match the look of the originals. These custom hands were made to fit the clock faces exactly, with specific bushings.
The HN-60 master clock has an internal quartz crystal and lithium battery back-up. It also resets automatically for power interruptions and Daylight Saving Time changes. It can drift a minute or so per year, but that is easily corrected by pressing a couple buttons (or by adding a GPS antenna option).
The NU-90t movements were ready to be mounted directly to the dial material. They have plenty of thread to accommodate the 3/8″ thick milk glass that makes up the dial. The weight of the movements is insignificant to the glass, making installation straightforward.
The HN-60 master clock and NU-90t movements are made by Mobatime of Switzerland. Due to COVID-19, these took a little longer than usual to make their way to Park Rapids. Even so, we feel fortunate that they have been able to remain open and continue shipping during this time.
Once he had the parts, Jeff Fieldsend had the clock up and running again in a matter of hours. With the new clockwork and controller in place, we’re confident that the clock will continue to keep time for many years to come.
We love being part of making old clocks work again. If you need parts or have questions about repairing your vintage clock, contact us!
Resources:
- Minneapolis Golden Jubilee, 1867-1917: A History of Fifty Years of Civic and Commercial Progress… University of Minnesota, 1917. p.99. Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=yuMwAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA99&ots=jft3SZJjis&dq=McClintock%20clocks%20on%20four%20corners%20of%20usa&pg=PA99#v=onepage&q=McClintock%20clocks%20on%20four%20corners%20of%20usa&f=false
- http://sites.rootsweb.com/~njsrhps/newsletters/srhpsnews2_14.pdf
- The Rotarian. Nov 1913, p. 1. Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=h1gEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA3&dq=MCclintock-Loomis%20advertisements&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=MCclintock-Loomis%20advertisements&f=false
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wF-r4nBZLU
- https://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/news/6527388-Century-old-clock-on-Main-is-mended
