The historic Seth Thomas clock that’s been part of the Downtown streetscape in front of the city’s oldest jewelry store since just after the Great Fire of 1901 is being restored for the third time.
The clock was first installed at Jacobs Jewelers along Bay Street. The store was rebuilt after the fire and the clock was purchased and mounted in the sidewalk not so much for the benefit of pedestrians who wanted to know the time, but as a symbol of Jacksonville’s rise from the ashes.
The store moved to Forsyth Street several years later and then again in 1930 to its present location along Laura Street. With each move, the clock followed.
In 1973, a city bus jumped the curb and knocked down the clock, leading to its first rehabilitation. It was restored again in 1995, the year it was gifted by the store to the City, said Jacobs Jewelers owner Roy Thomas.
The clock was removed in April 2011 to ensure it would not be damaged during the recent Laura Street improvement project. It was stored awaiting funding from the City to replace the four-dial movement of the clock and restore the 18-foot-tall cast iron case.
Last April 26, the City executed a contract with the I.T. Verdin Co. in Cincinnati for the complete restoration of the antique clock. The contract calls for installation of a new motor drive system, a solid state controller accurate to one minute per year with automatic adjustment for daylight saving time, new clock dials and hands and repairing and repainting the original case.
The terms of the contract state that Verdin, as the low bidder on the project, will perform the work for an amount not to exceed $51,094.
The contract also stipulates the work to be completed within 90 days of the City notifying Verdin to proceed with the work, which the City did April 30 via email and U.S mail.
In response to an inquiry Monday from City Council member Don Redman, who represents Downtown, Paul Crawford, acting executive director of the City’s Office of Economic Development and the project manager for the Laura Street improvements, stated via email that he has been “keenly engaged in the restoration and replacement of the Jacobs Jewelers clock.”
Crawford wrote that it is his understanding that the “restoration is 60-70 percent complete” and that he expects the iconic timepiece to be back in its proper place within six months.
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