Michael Sater turns back time with Tennessee Clockworks

BY GREGG PARKER

Michael T. Sater’s natural aptitude with a delicate form of mechanics led him to his current business, Tennessee Clockworks in Fayetteville, Tennessee.

“I was one of those kids that always took the toaster apart and wanted to know how things worked,” Sater said. “My dad taught us how to work on the lawnmower engine and car maintenance, like changing the brakes and oil.”

When he married Cathy, who’s from Spartanburg, South Carolina, she had a non-working, mechanical clock. He cleaned, repaired and returned the clock to working order.

However, the clock wasn’t ticking correctly. Unsatisfied, he investigated online to find the correct fix. “The clock ran great after that,” Michael Sater said.

At that time, Sater worked as a computer technician for Otis Elevator in Bloomington, Indiana. He pursued small clock repair for a possible sideline business. Months later, Sater and numerous coworkers were laid off.

Sater then tried repairing clocks full time. After an article and photographs in the local newspaper, his phone rang off the hook from potential customers.

“The initial work was important because I could take something mechanically dead and bring it back to life. I always enjoyed antiques; this was a way of restoring an antique,” Sater said. “The emotional satisfaction of bringing back someone’s memories became the overriding enjoyment of my work.”

Without structured training, Sater bought the entire inventory of old clocks and tools from an Indianapolis repairman. Sater worked on those clocks to build his skill set and then branched out to customers’ clocks.

He now repairs grandfather clocks, antique shelf clocks, wall clocks, cuckoo clocks and anniversary clocks. The only items he doesn’t repair are electronic versions.

In addition, he repairs wristwatches, pocket watches …even music boxes.

High-end German mechanical clocks are still in production. “Those are repaired in the same manner as the antiques,” he said. His work carries a one-year guarantee.

Although he’s often asked, Sater is not an appraiser. “I work on sentimental value. That value is priceless,” he said. A clock worth thousands and a $20 model have the same value – when sentimentality is involved.

Practically all his work is local. However, a customer recently drove from Chattanooga to Fayetteville for clock repair.

The oldest clock that he has repaired came from Sater’s hometown of Ellettsville, Indiana…a 15-minute drive from Bloomington. His customer’s grandfather clock dated from the 1790s. He frequently repair clocks from the mid- to late 1800s. Some units have wooden mechanical works, not brass, and require a special skill set.

The most unusual model was a MasterCrafters, a vintage-brand electric clock from the 1950s. “They have motion. One has a young girl figurine, swinging against a lighted park. Another has a young man, ringing a church steeple bell.”

Others have both motion and lighting. The Haddon company made a line of motion electric clocks. One was designed as an old cottage. “On one side of the cottage was the clock dial. The other side had a picture window with an old woman rocking back and forth in her chair next to a fireplace,” Sater said.

Sater saw other memorable clocks in a shop in southern Indiana. “Among many beautiful clocks, he had a wide variety of cuckoo clocks. A unique cuckoo clock was designed to stand on the floor,” he said.

Standing six feet tall, this cuckoo clock had a completely hand-carved case. The design was a forest scene with large pine trees and animals. A long pendulum would swing. Not only did it have a cuckoo bird on the hour, but it played music afterwards.

“It was absolutely stunning,” Sater said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before or since.”

Sater finds great satisfaction with his work’s mechanics, but he thoroughly enjoys “seeing people get their memories back and the flood of emotions that come with a restored family timepiece.”

At day’s end, Michael Sater can say, ‘Today was a good day,’ when he “brings a clock back to life that had significant sentimental value to the owner.”

For grandfather clocks, Sater will make house calls. “If a clock case is coming apart, I can glue it back together. If I cannot do a repair myself, I have sources who help with repairs,” he said.

Tennessee Clockworks’ address is 44 Hancock Branch Drive in Fayetteville. For more information, call 931-492-0084; email michael@tnclockworks.com or visit tnclockworks.com or Facebook/Tennessee Clockworks.