GREG Falls would have no problem telling the time in his house.
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The avid Ararat clock collector has approximately 70 different kinds of timekeepers in his home, dating back to the early 1900s.
Mr Falls tells the story of how his passion formed.
“Thirty years ago, give or take a year, we bought an old Victorian home. There was a fireplace in the lounge with a mantle piece. I thought ‘there needs to be a clock there’, and that’s how it started.”
Mr Falls restores all the cases of any old, damaged clocks and back when he first started, took his clocks to an ex-train driver who restored the movement of them.
The movement is mechanical insides of a clock. These days, Mr Falls relies on a jeweller in Buninyong to help him restore them to their former glory. Marble, timber and crystal clocks are among Mr Falls’ collection.
“The French marble is very collectable, then it’s the German, American, English and Japanese,” he said.
One of the more interesting pieces that Mr Falls owns is a grandfather clock from the late 1930s.
“It is made by the HAC, which is the Hamburg America Clock Company and was purchased from Myer in 1938. Of course, the war broke out in 1939, so after then there were no more HAC clocks made,” he explained.
Mr Falls commonly gets asked if he has the clocks all going once.
“No I don’t, I have half a dozen clocks that are my favourites and are not too noisy,” he said.
“I like to run them roughly every couple of days. All of the clocks do go, they have all been restored.”
Mr Falls has travelled all around in Victoria and interstate in the search for collectables, although these days he uses eBay to make his purchases of clocks and spare parts.
However, a French marble clock can weigh up to 45 kilograms so postage is not always an option.
“It’s an addiction, but a good addiction,” Mr Falls said of clock collecting and restoration.
A sample of Mr Falls’ clock collection can be currently viewed at the Langi Morgala Museum. There are 25-30 clocks on display and they will be featured for another three to four months.