History
David Raeburn
David was very ill when he was young and spent quite a large proportion of his early childhood in bed or in hospital. A friend of the family was a clockmaker and gave David old clock parts and watches to fiddle with. This sparked a lifelong interest in collecting and repairing mechanical things.
At the age of sixteen David began collecting clocks. His mother was almost driven mad by his collection of twenty six striking clocks in the family lounge room. On the hour the sound of the striking clocks would overpower the television. Eventually the clocks had to be stopped or relegated to the shed where the collection continued to grow to even larger numbers.
In the late 1980’s David moved to Bairnsdale, he bought with him a large and varied collection of antique & rare clocks. Little did he know that 20 years later he would be running the largest Clock Repair, Restoration and Sales showroom in Australia.
As word spread of his ability to repair clocks, the demand for his services grew to such a proportion that it could no longer fit into his home workshop. The expansion required further repairers. In due course David was joined by his son Steve, followed by two other young men interested in the art of clock repair, Trevor Herbstriet and Peter Vandiesen.
Clocks, barometers & mechanical gramophones from all over Victoria found their way to the small workshop in Bairnsdale for repair or total restoration. Demand for Wooden and Marble case restorations became necessary & local restorer Sandro Verdolini was enlisted to carry out this precise and very specialized work.
Further expansion in 2001 saw the business move to a 1000 square metre showroom full of an astonishing array of clocks, antique furniture, collectables, pianos, music boxes, gramophones, barometers. David and his wife Libby welcomed visitors to the shop and proudly displayed their collection of rare clocks in the museum section, along with the famous ‘Monks Clock’ show. The business was known to be the biggest provincial clock shop in the southern hemisphere with several hundred fully restored clocks for sale.
In 2012 the museum was closed & the store & workshop moved closer to town with a bright new showroom & an expanded workshop that accommodated hundreds of repairs from all over Australia each year.
David, now semi retired, still enjoys repairing cuckooclocks and barometers in his spare time.
Trevor Herbstreit
After working for David repairing clocks for about 20 years Trevor purchased the business from David and continued operating from the worshop behind the showroom. Along with Di Fleischer who had been with the company for 13 years, they are a two person team.
In February 2016 Bairnsdale clocks found a new home at 10 Dalmahoy Street, Bairnsdale. A pleasant new showroom now awaits the visitor.
We repair all manner of clocks, watches, aneroid barometers & more.