He makes cuckoos sing again

Much like a family photo, familiar smell or favorite place, Dan Delorit knows the tick-tock or cuckoo sounds of clocks transports people back in time, bringing warm memories.

That’s much of what drives his part-time business, Cuckoo for Clock Repair, which he runs out of his Grafton home.

Once Delorit gets old clocks back up and running, it’s often an emotional time for the customer.

“I’ve had people break down. Tears flow down their cheeks,” he said.

Delorit estimates that he has fixed more than 2,500 clocks during his 10 years in business, from cuckoo to grandfather and mantle to bar clocks.

He never knows what kind of clocks he will be asked to repair.

“People bring all kinds of stuff to you,” he said, adding he once got a “hodgepodge” of parts.

Some clocks he fixes are more than 100 years old. Parts aren’t made for those anymore.

“We do the best we can,” Delorit said.

Most people, he said, don’t realize that clocks need to be maintained. Mechanical clocks should be professionally oiled every three years and cleaned and oiled every five years. Quartz clocks should have their batteries changed annually.

Delorit has repaired clocks from Germany, Japan, Korea and across the U.S. Someone from Crivitz  even came down to drop off a clock tower.

The oldest clock he repaired was a German model that dated to 1750. He once put his mark on an 1802 clock he worked on. “Every one of the guys who repaired the clock put their name on it. I added my name to the list,” Delorit said.

He knows the list of clock repairers is shrinking. Fewer and fewer clock makers exist. Covid-19 caused one to go out of business, and grandfather clock makers across the world went from seven to one in five years, he said.

Those left don’t often want to repair cuckoo clocks, which is the majority of his business, and jewelers often don’t know how.

“It’s kind of a dying business, and there are a few of us out there,” Delorit said. “But those who are left are really busy.”

Delorit, who runs the business with his wife, said he could repair clocks full time, but the retired respiratory therapist said he wants to keep the work to a part-time level. He fixes five to 10 clocks per month and does contract work for a jeweler.

Delorit started learning the craft when he was growing up in Green Bay, encouraged by his mother, “who never met a Goodwill she couldn’t enjoy.”

She would buy clocks and ask her son to fix them. He started with a cuckoo clock his father brought his mother as a souvenir from Germany after serving in the Army in World War II.

“If you can repair a cuckoo clock, everything else falls into place,” he said. “There’s all kinds of stuff going on in there.”

When his mother died several years ago, her dining room had more than 130 clocks in it.

Delorit owns about a dozen clocks himself, and “no, I don’t want anymore,” he said.

“We try to have nice clocks that don’t make a ton of noise.” Those he’s repairing he has to test. “Noon is a very interesting time at our house,” he said.

But he turns them off at night to avoid his wife asking, “Did you hear it chime 143 times?”

In addition to keeping time, clocks can provide history lessons. An art deco grandfather clock he bought at an antique store is a 1915 model from Germany that says “foreign” on it. Shortly after World War I, the British and French wouldn’t allow “Germany” on items to “prevent brand recognition.”

His favorite clock is a Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos from Switzerland that never needs winding. An airtight capsule behind the movement contains a gaseous blend that expands and contracts like an accordion.

Temperature changes of four degrees or more and atmospheric changes cause the gas to expand, which winds the clock.

Delorit got the inspiration for his business 15 years ago. He fixed a cuckoo clock that fell off his wall and later bought one on eBay and repaired it. He was told he should go into business and Cuckoo for Clock Repair was born.

His career actually helped his hobby. When he was trained as a respiratory therapist in the 1970s, he would take apart ventilators and put them back together repeatedly until he got it right.

“If you don’t do it right, someone’s life is in jeopardy,” he said.

When he repairs clocks, he holds something else in his hands. “It’s about restoring memories,” Delorit said.

Delorit will make house calls, which helps set him apart from other repairers. Traveling, with grandfather clocks in particular, often causes them to get out of balance.

People commonly ask if their clock is worth fixing. Delorit responds, “What is the clock worth to you?”

“I repair clocks at a reasonable price to make clocks worth keeping,” he said.

Clocks, regardless if they work or not, can be pieces of art.

“A clock that works is working art,” he said.

While clock repairers are few, the Delorits have an apprentice — their son-in-law, who runs a clock shop in Skokie, Ill.

Sometimes he calls with questions, and they have learned from him as well. He taught Dan how to use a phone app that matches a clock’s ticking.

Delorit said the pandemic has caused business to boom. People spending more time at home notice their clocks aren’t working and want them repaired.

His turnaround time is two weeks to a month, better than clock makers’ typical three to six months, he said.

Delorit said he supports small businesses and uses them as often as possible for his supplies.

A percentage of the business’s profits goes to Ozaukee Christian School and the Grafton Lions.

For more information, visit www.cuckooforclockrepair.com.