Mankind’s relationship with time has always been a complex one. When we are young it seems infinite, yet as adults there never seems to be enough. It appears to speed up and slow down based on how much we are enjoying the moment we are in. It actually speeds up and slows down based on how close to the speed of light you are traveling. Between time zones and date lines, it can become enough to make your head spin before you even begin to consider daylight savings time.

What is an inarguably less complicated relationship is our feelings about the devices we use each day to try and make sense of time. Because instead of being an abstract concept, watches and clocks are a tangible thing. We can hold them, hear them tick, and recall the memories attached to them. A beloved family heirloom, whether it be antique grandfather clock or a well-worn watch, can represent our past and where we’ve come from. In Michael Taylor’s story, timepieces can also represent what the future has in store.

Walking into Taylor’s shop, located at the corner of Seventh Street and U.S. Highway 31, you are surrounded by the quiet, rhythmic tick-tick from clocks which span centuries. With more than $70,000 invested in tools and another $30,000 in reference books, it’s clear Taylor is much more than a hobbyist when it comes to watch repair. He is one of dwindling number of certified watchmakers in the country, and it has taken him decades to develop the skills to accumulate and service the collection you can find at Taylor’s Fine Timepieces.

Taylor said he was seven-years-old when he repaired his first clock. He had always been mechanically inclined and his grandfather had a broken flip-clock that was just asking to be torn apart and put back together. He became interested in watches a bit later thanks to one of the most important things in any 14-year-old boy’s life … a pretty girl.

“My best friend’s sister was a tall blonde who had this Movado watch that she said was a museum piece. After learning about it, it turns out that it wasn’t, but it got me interested in wristwatches,” Taylor said.

Taylor has since gone on to work on a number of legitimate museum grade watches and clocks — you can find both vintage Rolexes and a $50,000 hand carved German trumpeter clock from the 1880’s. He’s also worked on several clocks owned by celebrities including a crystal regulator clock owned by Al Capone and Henry Ford’s “time is money” kitchen clock. But Taylor will also tell you how rare and expensive don’t necessarily mean a “better” timepiece. To him the only criteria needed for a watch or clock to be considered “good” is “one that you like and can afford.”

While it might make more sense to just replace a cheaper quartz watch instead of investing the cost to have it repaired and regularly serviced — which Taylor said far too many people overlook — he said it all comes down to how attached to a particular timepiece somebody is. Whether it is a $30,000 Rolex or your grandfather’s old Timex, Taylor said people develop a certain sentimental attachment to things which makes them much more valuable than their resell value. He compares it to the way many people treat vintage cars.

“If your car is going to cost $20,000 to fix but you can just replace it for $10,000, I get that, but people do it all the time. They take granddaddy’s old car that he paid $1,800 for back the 50’s or 60’s and put $30,000 into it, but the car’s still only worth twenty-grand. It’s the same concept in some cases,” Taylor said.

For Taylor, that is one of the main reasons for doing what he does. While the majority of the items in his store available for purchase come from his own collection, he has accumulated more than a one-year wait time for local repairs. “I’m just passionate about rebuilding somebody’s family legacy,” he said.

When he and his wife moved to Holly Pond in 2017, Taylor said one of his main goals was to incorporate himself into the Cullman County community. His store might be how he makes a living and provides for his family, but he said he could have done that just as effectively repairing pieces in his basement or garage. Instead, Taylor wants to leave a legacy of his own by taking on apprentices, to ensure the craft of watchmaking is a timeless one.

“I want to make a living, but if I just wanted to make money, I could have worked out of my house and made over $100,000 a year strictly working on high end watches and clocks across America. But, I wanted to be a part of this community. I plan on being a part of this community until I die,” he said