SF watchmakers Careers "Up Against The Clock"

by Phil McIlrath, KDLT News
June 20, 2012 9:19 PM


If you've ever taken the cover off of a watch or peeked inside a grandfather clock you'll notice handfuls of springs, levers and gears all working together to perform the simple function of telling the time.
    
Over the years, electronics have replaced those gears, so when the watch breaks...it's thrown away. But it's one Sioux Empire Husband and Wife's love for repairing relics of time, that we think makes them someone you should know.
In this small workshop a dying trade is full of life
    
"It's like water over pebbles,"said Clockmaker Linda Davis.
   
 From the moment we enter the world, and taken out of it, our lives are measured in time. Ironically,  it's a concept that is running out for those keeping those ticking time pieces alive.
  
"Hardly anything is meant to be repaired anymore...everything is being made cheaper and cheaper,"said Clockmaker, Gayland Davis.
    
Gayland and Linda Davis have been working together in watch repair for nearly ten years. Linda started out as an out-of-work special education teacher who needed a job, so she went back to the classroom.

"He says, you'll never pass because I flunk out half of students. I said,' you're not gonna flunk me!' And he didn't,"said Davis.

After her business took off, she needed a little help keeping up with demand. So, she enlisted the help of her hubby, who had always had a knack for the mechanical things in life.

"He knows why everything works...I just know it does, but I don't always know why,"said Linda.

"Sometimes she helps me out and Sometimes I help her out...we get along pretty well,"said Gayland.

"Watch making you have to be able to pick up a speck of dust, turn it in the right direction with your tweezer and put it in a screw hole,"said Linda
   
 And it's the timeless love of dabbling with both the intricate and extravagant that keeps the hours flying day by day.

"I'll keep doing this till I can't,"said Linda. "There's never a slow period. Watchmakers don't retire willingly....we either become infirm or we die"

So, in the meantime, Linda and Gayland will keep those long faces lively, hoping to restore time for hours, days, and even years to come.