BYRON, Ga. — Time is something we all could use a bit more of. Michael Osborne has spent a lifetime repairing hands and making sure tick-tocks beat to the correct second.
Chris and Larry Hart say their grandfather clock has sentimental value. Larry gave the clock to Chris when she finished cancer treatments in 2003.
They were hard-pressed to find anyone who would make house calls.
“I think it's wonderful,” Chris said.
When he's not making house calls Osborne huddles in his shop, a trailer behind his house. The shop is, of course, filled with clocks.
Osborne began his love affair with clocks when he was 17-years-old.
“There aren't many of us around,” he said.
Inside his den, it's a symphony of sounds measured by moments in time.
The Navy veteran sees a steady stream of folks bringing in their treasured pieces so he can tinker with them at his desk.
“Most of the time it's stripping them down and doing the bushing work and cleaning is important but it's the bushings that go bad on the clock,” he said.
The job is more than a simple fix for him. Time and time again, Osborne will do more than bushings. He will bring back the clock no matter what it takes.
“I'll polish them up repaint them and make them look like a million dollars,” he said.
The 70-year-old says he's slowed down a bit and he doesn't do this work as much as he used to. However, the guy with clock clout will sometimes do as many as three house calls a week.
“I'll go to Dublin, Eastman, I'll go as far as Douglassville, Thomaston, Milledgeville, Sandersville, Eatonton,” he said.
He's keeping a timeless art alive, making people happy and enjoying every second of his passion.