About Zeldavando Co.
A small Boulder workshop doing one thing properly: keeping mechanical clocks running.
A bench, a rate rack, and no shortcuts
Zeldavando Co. has been repairing clocks from 1717 Spruce Street in downtown Boulder since 1998. We are not a jewellery counter with a repair drawer and we do not send work out to a third party. Clocks are received, examined, dismantled, serviced and tested here, by the same hands from start to finish.
The workshop was built around one conviction: a mechanical clock is a machine designed to be maintained indefinitely. There is almost nothing in a clock that cannot be repaired by someone willing to make the part. Wheels can be recut, pivots re-turned, plates rebushed, springs replaced, dials re-silvered. What kills clocks is not age — it is neglect, and repairs done in a hurry.
How we work
Every clock is examined before a price is given, and no work begins without a written estimate you have approved. If your clock only needs cleaning, we will tell you that, even though an overhaul would be a better invoice for us. If a clock is not economically worth restoring, we will say so plainly and explain what your options are.
Overhauled movements go on the test rack for two to four weeks before they go home. This is why our lead times are longer than a quick-turnaround shop's, and it is the single biggest reason our repairs come back so rarely.
What you can expect
An honest diagnosis
We tell you what is actually wrong, what it will cost, and what happens if you wait. No upselling to an overhaul a clock does not need.
Work done completely
Full disassembly on every overhaul. Cleaning in place is not a service we offer, because it does not last.
Respect for the object
Original parts repaired rather than replaced. Original finishes conserved rather than stripped. Age is not damage.
Care in your home
Shoe covers, drop cloths, and clean-up. We are working on furniture in your living room and we treat it that way.
Clear timelines
You are told at the outset how long the work will take, and contacted if anything changes that estimate.
Warranty in writing
Our workmanship and the parts we supply are guaranteed. If something is not right, bring it back.
Clocks we see most often
Boulder County has an unusually good stock of clocks. Longmont and Arvada produce genuine nineteenth-century American shelf and wall clocks, often original to the houses. Boulder and Denver bring in European antiques carried here by families who moved from elsewhere. Superior, Erie and Broomfield send us late-model chiming floor clocks that simply need to be looked after properly.
We work on all of it: Herschede, Howard Miller, Sligh, Ridgeway, Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Ingraham, Junghans, Kienzle, Hermle, Kieninger, Urgos, Regula, French drum movements, Vienna regulators and one-off clocks with no name on them at all.
Not sure what you have? Send a photo of the dial and one of the movement through the back door of the case, and we can usually tell you what it is and roughly what it needs. Call (303) 494-5271 or email [email protected].