Time for a change

La Crosse Tribune, Aug 04, 2003 by Cahalan, Steve

Joe Liebe Liebert enjoys bringing broken-down clocks and watches back to life at Clocks Off Main, which moved two months ago to 108 Fifth Ave. N. in downtown La Crosse from Viroqua, Wis.

The clock and watch repair business opened June 2 in its new location.

Liebert started Clocks On Main at 207 1/2 S. Main St. in downtown Viroqua in June 1998. He renamed the business Clocks off Main in September 1999 when he moved it to 116 1/2 E. Maple St. in Viroqua, in half of a double garage at his home.

Liebert does all of his repair work at the La Crosse store, which is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday.

On Saturdays, his Maple Street location in Viroqua is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. "That's mostly for pick-up and delivery," he said of the Saturday hours in Viroqua.

Liebert also makes house calls for grandfather clocks.

He said he moved the business to La Crosse because it is a larger city with more potential customers and because many of his customers had been driving from the La Crosse area to his Viroqua shop.

"It's gone better than I expected," Liebert said of the volume of business at the new La Crosse location. "What's surprising is how much watch repair I'm doing."

Clock and watch repairs account for about 95 percent of his business.

Liebert also sells some new cuckoo clocks and some antique clocks and watches. "I buy out collectors, and people to come in" offering to sell him their antique clocks and watches, he said. "And I go to watch and clock collector shows," where he also buys some.

Liebert also puts replacement batteries in watches.

People of all ages bring broken clocks and watches to him to be repaired.

"A lot of my clients are elderly, plan to pass along their clocks and watches to their children or grandchildren, and want them operating," he said. "And sometimes, younger people have inherited these watches and clocks and bring them in because they would like to have them running."

Liebert said he does all of the repair work himself and doesn't ship the clocks or watches off to other repair shops. That's a plus in the eyes of many of his customers, who don't want their clock or watch sent out of town, he said.

"What I enjoy the most is repairing an old watch or clock that hasn't been running for years," Liebert said. "It's almost like you're bringing it back to life.

"And these things I'm bringing back to life mean a lot to people," he said. "Their one memory of going to grandpa and grandma's house may be hearing the chime clock on the mantel."

So far, the oldest clock Liebert has worked on is an English bell strike clock made in the 1680s.

Liebert, 39, lives in Viroqua with his wife, Felicia, and their five children. She works part time as a registered nurse at Vernon Memorial Hospital in Viroqua.

Liebert was raised in Ohio, and later farmed near Soldiers Grove, Wis. He Was a dairy farmer for nearly three years, milking 35 to 40 cows, until he sold the animals in July 1997 and quit farming because of low milk prices.

He completed a watch repair program at St. Paul Technical College and a course at the American Watchmakers Institute in Cincinnati before opening his Viroqua shop in June 1998.

Liebert chose the new occupation because he enjoys working with his hands, and because - while still farming - he had enjoyed spending one winter apprenticing with a German clockmaker in Grant County. "And there was a need" for his service in the area, he said.