About Bill’s Clockworks

Bill’s Clockworks of Flora, Indiana, USA repairs and sells clocks. We are a BBB Accredited Business with an A+ rating, and have been in business since 1991 and in Flora, Indiana since 1995.

Directions and map to Bill's Clockworks

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

East side of the storefront of Bill's Clockworks. (October 15, 2021)
In the background is my assembly/disassembly workbench. I'm holding a Westclox "Dolphin" cast front clock I restored. (January 28, 2021)
Schatz London Coach 400 day clock repaired and polished (July 2023)
Part of Bill's horological library
Part of Bill's horological library
Part of Bill's horological library
Four 400 day clocks after repair, polishing and lacquering. (September 16, 2014)
Polished 400 day clock case parts awaiting assembly. (December 2, 2010)
Telechron electric clocks for sale. At top left is a Big Ben Style 1a alarm clock sold by G. V. Brown, Flora, Indiana. (June 8, 2023)
Electric clocks for sale. (June 8, 2023)
Repair workbench with lathe and bushing machine
Repair bench for lathe work, bushing and general clock repair work. (August 28, 2008)
400 day clocks that have been repaired
400 day clocks that I repaired. (August 28, 2008)
Workshop area, with some of my Westclox clocks at top
Part of my Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clock display, and clock testing bench. The clock on the pillar is the Hermle Greenwich. (August 28, 2008)
Bill Stoddard at 20 months old, looking a a Seth Thomas electric clock
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 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 and found out why the clock was unreliable and corrected the problem.

At age 14, Bill became interested in Westclox Baby Ben alarm clocks and began to collect 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 cooperated on many ventures, including Westclox articles and programs.

In high school, Bill bought a 1940s floor-standing radio. He learned how vacuum tube electronic circuits work and started repairing 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 1995 Bill moved to Flora, IN. The former Rainbow Cafe was renovated and became the site of Bill's Clockworks, officially opening in November 1995.

Bill is a member of the 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 website. In 2003, he used PHP and MySQL to create an online catalog of Hermle clocks. He designed a clock history database in PostgreSQL. Some major topics include Big Ben Styles, Baby Ben Styles, Patents, Clock Variations, Models and Documents.

Bill enjoys working with vacuum tube high-fidelity amplifiers and tuners. Below is a picture of the pair of Eico HF-60 amplifiers he rebuilt in 2022. He also rebuilt a Dynaco PAS-2 preamp and hopes to have time for more in the future. Below is a picture of a Bogen DB130 he hopes to repair someday!

Pair of Eico HF-60 amplifiers with external meters to monitor the output tube bias.
Bogen DB130 monophonic integrated amplifier ca. 1955. Bill has two of these to repair, plus a spare.

Bill may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

 

Web Site Acknowledgments

FreeFind.com provides search technology for this website.

Billsclockworks.com uses Plausible Anayltics to better understand our users' needs. Plausible tracks overall trends in website traffic, but does not track individual visitors. Plausible doesn't use cookies, doesn't generate any persistent identifiers and doesn't collect or store any personal or identifiable data. All of the data is aggregated data and it has no personal information. It complies with cookie law and the privacy regulations such as GDPR, CCPA and PECR.

By using Plausible Analytics, all the site measurement is carried out absolutely anonymously. We measure only the most essential data points and nothing else.

Thanks to www.iconfinder.com for the menu icon. Used under ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

Thanks to Jake Rocheleau for sample code for the responsive menu.

Image Credits: Sale Bag - iStock 170094199.

Social Media Links