This circa 1880 Regulator clock hung in Harry Miller’s Barber Shop in 1904 on Colorado Avenue until it was gifted to Dr. Parker at the Telluride Community Hospital. Later, when the hospital became the Telluride Historical Museum, Dr. Parker donated the clock so it could remain in the building. Today the clock is on display, albeit without tick or tock, in our gift shop.
For many years the pendulum sat detached inside the case. Recently, we had it re-hung and the clock appraised for conservation. We discovered it is a Model Regulator clock made by the New Haven Clock Company in New Haven, Conn. The clock originally had a pediment on the top and depending on the case design it could have been a buck head or a ladies bust, both popular subjects in 1880’s Telluride.
Our Regulator is probably one in a hundred made from the New Haven Clock Company, who was producing over 170,000 clocks a year by 1860! Most likely ours was made in the late 1880’s when Standard Time was introduced.
Regulator clocks were the standard for Railway Stations, Banks, and anywhere time was paramount. The Telluride Historical Museum would like to have the clock cleaned so the pendulum will swing and turn the hands of time forward, once again, making history.
~ Cameo
Telluride Historical Museum
Collections Assistant
