At the Tick Tock Shop, a 52-year-old institution home to Colorado’s biggest timepiece offering, you won’t only discover thousands of watches. There are countless more interesting finds: hundreds of clocks, including musical, mantle, grandfather and miniature; dozens of Italian-inlaid musical jewelry boxes; watch boxes and winders; and a handful of collectible vintage and antique items.
The Tick Tock Shop staff includes a dozen repair technicians, in addition to second and third generations of the family working to keep the region’s timepieces functioning beautifully.
Half-Century of History
In 1974, David Mattson was repairing watches and clocks for several Colorado Springs jewelry stores when he decided to open his own shop on Circle Drive. The Air Force and Navy veteran quickly outgrew that storefront and moved into a larger space down the street. Then another. Then another. Then another. The Tick Tock Shop now occupies three adjacent buildings. Later this year, all operations will move once again—this time to bring everything back under one roof, just next door in the former Fiesta Furniture building.
David Mattson died in 2010; his sons Jonathan and Carl are now co-owners. Jonathan’s wife, Joanna, serves as the human resources director and bookkeeper. Their daughter Jenna recently graduated from a watchmaking program in Texas and serves as a certified watchmaker. Carl’s son-in-law Tyler Flourney works part-time as a customer service representative. Over the years, at least a dozen other family members have worked in the shop.
“We’re in our third generation of this family business,” Joanna says. “It is a legacy.”
Interesting Items
In addition to an impressive collection of modern watches and clocks, the Tick Tock Shop also stocks everything from antique grandfather clocks with handpainted dials and tubular chimes to quirky Kit-Cat Klocks, which have been adorning walls since 1932. “They’re still going strong,” Joanna says.
In a nearby glass case sits a Hermle Tellurium II mantel clock—a marvel in engineering that displays the relative motion of the sun, moon and earth under a hand-blown glass dome atop the clock. The earth’s tilt on its axis is accurately represented, as is its rotation. “Not just everyone has a Tellurium,” Joanna adds.
Hanging behind the counter is a Tick Tock Shop specialty: the Geochron World Clock. Invented by James Kilburg in 1964 with the idea that one device could determine the time anywhere in the world, these moving maps hang on walls in the Pentagon and other military installations, in international boardrooms and in fine homes around the world. They’re also found in numerous movies including Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games and Hunt for Red October.
These days, Geochrons are available in two varieties: the original, mechanical version and a digital version. The Tick Tock Shop acquired the rights to the mechanical version two-and-a-half years ago. Each mechanical clock requires about 300 parts, which are neatly stacked in bins. On-site technicians meticulously repair clocks sent in from around the world and build about five new clocks per month.
Recently, the shop received a surprise call from a movie studio executive who asked whether the Tick Tock Shop could build, ship and have a Geochron on the ground within 10 days in London, where Tom Cruise was filming, for his birthday. “Mission impossible?” Joanna quips. “Uh, uh. We’re missionpossible.”
Mechanical Magic
In a world that’s increasingly digital, how does the Tick Tock Shop compete? “I think there’s a nostalgia going on,” Joanna says, adding that twenty-somethings initially enamored with smartphones, smartwatches and other devices are becoming “totally enamored” with mechanical clocks and watches, frequently choosing retro or vintage looks. “That’s what that generation is looking for.”
Tick Tock Shop
7 N. Circle Dr.
719.475.8585
ticktockshoponline.com