About Bill’s Clockworks

Bill’s Clockworks of Flora, Indiana, repairs and sells clocks. We are a BBB Accredited Business with an A+ rating, and have been in business since 1991.

Directions and map to Bill's Clockworks

Clocks for Sale: wall, mantel and cuckoo clocks. We sell online and at our store in Flora, Indiana.

Clock Repair: antique and modern clock repair. Windup clocks are guaranteed for two years after a complete overhaul.

Our present repair backlog is about 2 months.

See my Clock Information Blog for commentary about clock repair.

Below are pictures inside and outside of our shop located at 8 W. Columbia Street in downtown Flora, Indiana.








Bill Stoddard at 20 months old

William S. (Bill) Stoddard

has had a lifelong interest in clocks and watches. When he was a boy, his grandfather, who had some antique clocks, showed Bill how to wind and regulate them. At age eight, Bill and his mother were in their attic one day and Bill found a Waterbury octagon lever wall clock, ca. 1880. Several years later he saved up money mowing lawns and had a clockmaker repair the clock. The clock would not run reliably even after being returned several times. Two years later a mainspring broke, so Bill installed a new one and was also able to determine why the clock was unreliable and correct the problem.

At age 14 Bill became interested in Westclox Baby Ben alarm clocks and began to collect and repair them, and gather data about them. He later added Big Bens to the collection. In 1980 Bill met Richard Tjarks, an expert clock repairer and restorer, who also had an interest in Westclox clocks. This began a close friendship, and the two have cooperated on many ventures, including Westclox articles and programs. Bill and Richard are working with Jeffrey Wood who has also been interested in Westclox clocks and watches for many years.

As a teenager, Bill liked to work on wrist watches, but later decided he liked working on bigger things. He enjoys many different types of clocks, particularly American weight driven clocks. He enjoys the repair business because he gets to repair each clock, treating it as if it were his own, enjoy it for a while in the shop, give it to the customer for him or her to enjoy,

In high school, Bill bought a 1940's floor standing radio. He learned how vacuum tube electronic circuits work, and started to repair radios and televisions. He studied electronics for two years in high school, and enjoyed it so much that he enrolled in the electrical engineering program at Michigan Technological University .

After receiving the BSEE degree in 1977 and the MSEE degree in 1978, Bill went to work for Bell Laboratories in Indianapolis, where he did digital circuit and IC design. In 1986 Bill joined Truevision, Inc., where he designed semi-custom integrated circuits for video display boards.

In April 1991 he formed Bill's Clockworks, a sole proprietorship, based in his Indianapolis house. In December 1991 he married Kimberly Wheeler and moved to Lomax, Illinois where Kimberly was pastor of a church. Bill and Kimberly bought an old grocery store in Lomax built ca. 1900, renovated it, and put the clock shop there. In August 1993, Nathan, their first son was born. In January 1995 the Stoddards moved to Kimberly's home town of Flora, and their daughter Bethany was born in March, 1995. The former Rainbow Cafe of Flora was renovated and became the site of Bill's Clockworks, officially opening in November 1995. Bill and Kimberly's third child, Luke, was born in July 1996.

Bill sings in the choir and has served as an elder and deacon of his church. He is a member of the AWI (American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute), NAWCC (National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors), the American Clock and Watch Museum, and the BBB (Better Business Bureau).

In 2000, Bill created the ClockHistory.com web site and updated the BillsClockworks.com web site. In 2001 he did his first design with MySql and PHP. In 2003, he used PHP and MySQL to create an online catalog of Hermle clocks. He has designed the database structure for a new Westclox (and other clock and watch) history web site. The goal is to make this database flexible enough to contain almost any type of information such as catalogs, advertisements, articles, prices, dates, and detailed knowledge about variations in clocks and watches. The database is being implemented in PostgreSQL.

Bill may be reached by e-mail at bill@BillsClockworks.com

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Barry Wheeler

is a Flora native. He is best known in the greater Lafayette area for managing Richman Brothers clothing for 26 years, with a three year stint at selling cars at Kendrick Buick-Cadillac after Richman Brothers was liquidated nationally.

Barry does clock case restoration and helps with movement cleaning. He is past national president of the 6500 member Cadillac - LaSalle Club and owns four vintage Cadillacs. Through this association, and now his NAWCC (National Association of Clock and Watch Collectors) membership, Barry can provide worldwide references as to character and fair dealing. Delighted customers, both service and purchasers of clocks, are his goal. He is an elder and has served as an deacon of his church. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army (SP-5/E-5 Perm).

Barry may be reached by .