Read a transcript of this episode.

The "Clock Man,” a.k.a. Philip D’Avanza, is standing outside of 404 Market Street in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, and is about to take a step inside the town's clock tower housed in the First Evangelical Lutheran Church. The movement on this 125-year-old tower clock was taken apart, piece-by-piece in October 2020, and driven 450 miles to the Clock Man’s workshop in New Hampshire. Over the course of nine months, he repaired and refinished every part, restoring the clock to its original late nineteenth-century condition.

Come and hear the sound of a happy clock, on this tour of the inside of a clock tower. You will be guided by a man who is known, quite literally, to have “time on his hands.”

Philip D'Avanza has been in the clock repair business for over forty years. Since 1990, he has focused on tower clock repair in historic structures and is thoroughly familiar with the Guidelines for Historic Preservation as established by the Secretary of the Interior. He began his career in design and precision machining. Then utilized his skills as a tool and die maker to provide full-service repair and restoration on some of the most recognized tower clocks in New England. His work has received notice for several award-winning projects such as the Hallsville School in Manchester, NH, and the Massachusetts Trial Court in Fall River.

View photos of his tower clock repair projects at davanzaclocks.com.

Rhody Radio is a project of the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services and is supported in part through a grant from the Rhode Island Council for Humanities.