The Time We Keep - Clockmakers Reject Henry Ford
What do you do with your time?
Tell me, is your time money?
A thing to pass, to cherish, to waste, to spend?
Long ago, two brothers knew what to do with their time…
Which is good, because time is everywhere and everything….
Until it’s not.
A vast collection of hand - carved, impossibly detailed, seemingly priceless wooden clocks rest around you.
Never sold or bought, you are told … only collected. Some of them feet taller than yourself.
One question plagues your mind as you observe the intricate patterns carved into the wood.
How did these get here?
Since the 1920’s, the curious among us have journeyed to Spillville, Iowa to view the peculiar creations of the Bily Brothers.
Inside an unassuming brick building on Main Street, lies the room of hand carved clocks… appropriately named The Biley Clocks.
These farming brothers were offered millions for just one of their clocks…
Leaving modern admirers of to ask simply… Why?
To find out, both how and why, let’s turn back the clock…
Car horns, industrial noises…
We enter a time of deep change in America, economically, culturally and technologically. This shift is most evident on the coasts, but the rapid march of progress bleeds unceasingly (however slowly) into rural America.
It’s now a fact of life, from Iowa - to Los Angelos - to New York…
That the passage of time is inexplicably linked to the progression of society.
This is the world met by the Biley brothers….
In 1880 and 1884 respectively,
Joseph and Frank Bily are born to Bohemian immigrants on a farm just four miles north of the small town of Spillville, Iowa.
A circumstance and way of life that stands in stark contrast with the rapid growth of Guilded Age America… the town’s population is around 300 in 1900 and life…is…slow.
Plow noises …
The brothers work the 184 acre farm dutifully with their father.
Summers bring harvest, which means work for the brothers.
—
Winters bring… well, an absence of work.
—
Naturally… the brothers ask themselves …
How do we fill our days?
Quote
“Time is Money”
Benjamin Franklin
Quote
Time is not money, Mr Franklin, when it’s winter, you’re on a farm, you’re a kid and have days free.
And were most kids doodle on paper, the brothers promptly doodled on wood… forsaking pencils for knives and makeshift tools.
Shirley, manager at the Billy Clock museum, speaks to this…
It’s best practice to distance wooden desks from a serial child wood carver….
Franks intricately carved desk would go down in history as the schools least desired seat in class….
It’s natural to wonder, how do you go from carving elementary school desks to making masterfully intricate - operational clocks?
The story is simpler than you’d imagine…
I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.
Nor had I time to love; but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.
– Emily Dickinson
What was first curiosity, became hobby and later shifted into art.
Although, I doubt the brothers would approve of the term.
But let’s get into the details of their clocks and the sheer amount of skill and effort that went into each piece.
None of the clocks have nails or screwed, everything is glued together with home made adhesive.
Many of the clocks contain operational music boxes and intricately carved moving wooden figurines
But the most interesting aspect of the clocks, in my mind, is that each work has a specific theme and story.
The Parade of Nations Clock
Standing at an impressive 9 1/2 feet tall
The clock was intended to represent the many nations and religions of the world
In the center lies a large wooden globe and 35 figures surround it
The “Seven Ages of Man” from Shakespear’s play “As you like it” revolve at the top
The bottom panel reads “A Nation Shall not lift up a sword again nations. Neither shall they learn war.
-
The Grand Tower Clock
Carved in 1920 out of hard maple and walnut wood,
Intricate patterns line the entirety of the clock, greyhound’s stand guard on either side of the central clock and Westminster chimes sound at each quarter hour.
Just going to tune in quick,
this is a many leveled clock and the story of it’s carving is worth telling
The brothers took their mothers treadle sewing machine one night - without permission - and made a scroll saw out of it… the first in what would become a long tradition of using stuff that had no business being used for carving,,,, including, but not limited to dental equipment, machine parts - essentially whatever they could get their hands on.
Where there’s a will there’s a way, say the Biley brothers…
The American Pioneer History Clock
At over 8 feet tall and 500 pounds, this clock is widely considered to be their masterpiece.
The design is a series of 57 amazingly detailed panels representing various events in American history.
The very top of the clock is finished with border designs from classical civilizations
While American chimes play ‘ America’ the four ages of man parade from their concealment behind the Mayflower panel…
This specific clock caught the attention of a certain Henry Ford… who offered the brothers 1,000,000 dollars for the clock in 1928.
I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.
Henry Ford
1,000,000.00 when adjusted for inflation from 1928 to 2023
Is 17,818,830.41…..
Two bachelor farmer brothers from Spillville Iowa reject one of the most powerful men in America for…. What?
As the brothers collection grew it’s reputation began to proceed itself…
The public began to show up just to see the clocks.
Seeing an opportunity, Anna, their sister, who had less qualms about collecting money, charged people who would come see the clocks.
A solid 10 cents each visit… the brother’s were often heard apologizing to guests for having to pay admission.
Room full of people noises
Years later, when the farm house was torn down,,,, hundreds of dimes were found neatly packed in tabacoo cans under the floorboard of Anna’s bedroom….
Not a dime was spent.
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. - Epicurus
In their will gave the collection to the City of Spillville under one condition… the clocks were never to be sold or separated in any way.
As a physical legacy of two brothers who weren’t very interested in the word.
I asked Shirley, why
In a time driven by profit, the legacy of the Biley brothers and the clocks they never sold remains priceless.
What do you do with your time?
Tell me, is your time money?
A thing to pass, to cherish, to waste, to spend?
Long ago, two brothers knew what to do with their time…
Do you?