Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- The Mt. Olympus Clock Shop in Millcreek spends a full day adjusting clocks before the end of daylight saving time.
- Owners Aaron Recksiek and Kirsten Woodbury manage hundreds of clocks manually for the time change.
- The family values traditional timepieces over smartwatches for their craftsmanship and connection.
MILLCREEK — Most of us just tap a button on our phones or glance at a watch when daylight saving time ends.
But at the Mt. Olympus Clock Shop in Millcreek, changing the time isn't so simple.
"It takes a little bit," said Aaron Recksiek with a laugh.
Recksiek and his siblings run the family shop.
When a customer walks in the front door, the sound of clocks is impossible to ignore.
However, Recksiek and sister Kirsten Woodbury have tuned it all out.
"I don't hear any of it," Recksiek said. "Oh, no, I don't. Until somebody says something, I don't, I don't hear it."
"I don't notice the noise, and in fact, my house is very much the same way. I counted 39 clocks at my house, and I don't hear them," said Woodbury with a laugh.
With daylight saving time ending this weekend, it'll take a little bit of time to change her clocks at home.
It's even more of a chore inside the shop.
"At least a couple hundred, but I'm not even sure," Woodbury said with another laugh. "To change all the clocks in the store; it's at least the whole day. Sometimes we'll even start a little early, depending on how busy we are on Saturdays."
"And you have to take them off. If it's a wall clock, a lot of times you have to take it off the wall, and you've got to set it from the back," said Recksiek.
Taking your time into their hands
In a world where our phones and computers adjust the time automatically, the family says there's something special about taking the time to do it by hand.
"So, I think a lot of people, they like to feel a connection to the past. You know, especially as they get older," said Recksiek. "A lot of my friend bought smartwatches. I did, too. I love technology. But after a while, we all went back to regular watches."
He feels the constant notifications of the modern world onto his smartwatch actually took away time.
"We got into smartwatches, and now we don't wear them anymore," he said.
One thing about smartwatches, though, is how the time automatically changes with your cellphone for daylight saving time.
However, Recksiek believes it's nice to provide a place for customers who want to feel more connected to a timepiece.
And there, the craftsmanship of timekeeping matters.
"In all reality, if we didn't have clocks, we would just use the sun and the moon as our, as our timekeeper, so," he said.
Maybe so, but at this shop, time isn't just measured, it's honored.
For this family, changing each and every clock is worth every tick and tock.
"We are a clock shop," said Woodbury. "That's what we do. We should have the right time."
