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Time for repairs

Edward Kara works on the historic McClintock clock.

Volunteer clock fixers took apart the historic McClintock clock at Main Street and Fourth Avenue on Thursday and began the process of repairing the clock with new electronic control box and other parts.


The Western North Carolina Chapter 126 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors stood on scaffolding to disassemble and take down the inner workings, which they will repair and reinstall.
Edward Kara, an Asheville retiree and a clock collector, said the crew of three hopes to have the replacement parts installed and new clock wiring connected on Monday. The clock is powered and controlled by six cables that run from inside the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society. Four wires control the hour and minute hands of the four clock faces, one controls the chimes and one is a backup, said Kara and another clock man, Wayne Arcuri. The clock has a backup that will correct the time after a power outage. It also will automatically account for the time change for Daylight Saving Time.

The City Council, Downtown Economic Development and the Genealogical and Historical Society are funding the project. It's been coordinated by Mark Ray, the owner of Dad's Collectibles.

The clock was installed in 1927 on the Citizens Bank building, a two-story stone façade Neo-Classical Revival structure designed by Erle Stillwell, a prominent Hendersonville architect. The building was home to State Trust, Northwestern Bank, Home Bank and Trust and the Bank of North Carolina before it became the home of the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society.