When was the last time you looked for an actual clock to check the time? With a cell phone, smartwatch, or laptop nearby, there’s little need to look further for the time of day – and this could be why many younger adults don’t own a traditional clock. Despite this digital trend, Wayne Helmuth, owner of Mint City Millwork in Bremen, along with his wife, Erma, plans to introduce a new line of clock designs to win back the younger audience and homeowners of high-end homes.
Helmuth’s affinity for clock craftsmanship began during his high school days in shop class. He enjoyed building things with his hands, and he spent 29 years doing just that at nearby Newmar RV, honing his skills by crafting quality cabinets for high-end RVs. He opened Mint City Millwork in 1992 doing part-time woodworking jobs. In 2001 he built his first grandfather clock from scratch and was bitten by the proverbial bug for appreciating the complexities of a clock.
By 2016 the couple agreed it was time for him to leave his work in the RV industry and focus on running their own clock business, offering sales of grandfather, cuckoo and mantle clocks, as well as custom designs. Their three sons chose not to follow their father into the clock business, which Wayne Helmuth acknowledges as being just fine. “Our sons are not passionate about woodworking like I was at their age, so we support them in their different trades including manufacturing motorsports trailers, custom fencing, and construction,” he says.
It is this appreciation for differing interests that Helmuth translates to interactions with customers. Mint City Millwork welcomes mostly walk-in foot traffic, including some visitors who are simply looking for clock repair, whom Helmuth refers to a local partner who does repairs. Helmuth says “most people don’t purchase one of our clocks on their initial visit, because a grandfather clock is a high-ticket item. But later on they remember their visit and come back to select just the right one.” Helmuth recalls one couple who came back to the shop a fourth time; in their case the fourth time was the charm, and they found the perfect clock for their home.
The grandfather clocks sold at Mint City Millwork are carefully crafted from local top-grade lumber and contain Hermle triple-chime movements to ensure superior precision. These works of craftsmanship that used to be heirloom pieces and common in family homes have dropped in popularity, even with the largest clockmakers. Possibly contributing to this decline in demand is the fewer number of furniture and arts festivals in the area. To fortify this segment of sales, Helmuth partners with a distributor who manages the marketing of clocks sold by Mint City Millwork at trade shows that attract customers from a geographical area spanning from Pennsylvania to Illinois. Locally, Helmuth identifies customers coming from South Bend, Walkerton, Culver and other surrounding areas.
Musical clocks are also popular at Mint City Millwork. Partnering with a Canadian chip manufacturer for the past 10 years, Helmuth delivers a unique clock with changeable sound chips that chime on the hour, with tunes from train sounds to gospel instrumentals showcasing full bands, keyboard and harmonica. The selection is called the Precious Melodies line of clocks.
Each chip contains six recordings, which play in 90-second segments on the hour. Each year five or six new melody chips are introduced, and the customer can switch out the chip on their own as often as they like. “Music is like food and everyone has different preferences, so they want choices,” Helmuth says. “That’s the beauty of these clocks.”
Mint City Millwork has a variety of clocks in stock and can accommodate custom orders as well. The musical wall clocks showcase a custom photo and wording on the face, which some choose to use as a place to honor a lost loved one. One of the crew members building clocks is someone who Helmuth says “helped out in the shop when she was 15 years old and is now a full-time employee.” This type of full-circle story is something Helmuth knows well, because he now lives with his family on a farm that his grandfather bought in 1927.
Helmuth recognizes that for many people who are in the market for purchasing a clock, their decision is not as much about choosing a timekeeper as it is about making a fashion statement. This is why he has plans to introduce a line of clocks that will pique the interest of discerning homeowners and perhaps the curiosity of younger adults who have grown up in a digital era without the need for a ticking timepiece.
The new line of clocks will present innovative design elements, which Helmuth believes will invite a new segment of customers. These sophisticated styles might include hand-carved cherry wood with 24-karat inlay, and custom-finished metals such as hammered copper or stainless steel treated with chemicals to create different colors. The strategy is to incorporate exotic veneers and metals, and, in Helmuth’s words, “do it right.”
Mint City Millwork is located at 3121 Birch Road in Bremen. Call 574-209-1351 for more info.
