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Aubrey's offers speedy watch battery replacement as well as reliable and warranted clock and watch repair. We offer a great selection of grandfather, wall and cuckoo clocks, desk and alarm clocks and many decorative mantle, antique and novelty clocks. The gallery carries an assortment of watches including Skagen, Seiko and Anne Klein.
The shop offers a large variety of charming leaded glass lamps, snow domes, music boxes (including San Francisco Music Box Company), frames, high quality chess and other games, as well as hour glasses.
There's a gift for every one and every holiday and occasion. We look forward to seeing you in the shop! (Aubrey and Tuxedo's friendly faces will put a smile on your face.)
About Aubrey
“Westinghouse of the antique clock business" is what I was called throughout Asia as I exported over 75,000 antique clocks and reproduction clocks to the U.S. and Canada. I am a 1965 graduate of Sammamish High School and a former member of the 1st US Cavalry, military intelligence unit, stationed in Vietnam in 1969.
Being of Japanese ancestry but born in Bellevue, I went to Tokyo to study the Japanese language after being discharged from the Army. “ I wanted to learn the language of my heritage. Shortly after, a business venture involving an advertising agency presented itself in Korea but it failed in 5 months and I was stuck in Korea. It was then I bought the clock…..
I was pretty much broke...closer to being destitute...during my stay in Korea after the failed business venture...I was staying at an old run down hotel in Seoul and wondering what to do. The owner of the hotel was kind enough to let me stay there for free and when I returned to the US and got a job I would send the money I owed to him.
One Day as I sat in the lobby of the hotel, a gentleman and importer from St. Louis sat across from me mumbling something about “missing his plane to Taipei”. I asked him if I could be of some assistance. He gave me his card and told me to send him anything that might apply to his business. He told me to send him anything C.O.D. if I thought he might be interested. I took the card to my room and threw it in the dresser drawer. It was several days later that I was walking back to my hotel through a back ally when my eye caught something in the window of one of the many junk shops There was an American styled antique wall clock selling for the equivalent of $7. I went into the shop, having just enough money to buy the clock.
I sent the clock to him air-cargo for $9. With the $2 profit I could live for another two weeks in Seoul. After a couple of weeks, still staying at the hotel and not having to pay room or board, I received a call from Korea Exchange Bank informing me that money from St. Louis had arrived. I was in need of the $9.00 so I went to the bank and asked the teller for the money. The teller asked me how I wanted the money. I thought that was a strange question but I told him that I would take it in cash. The teller told me to wait and went to the back room and came back with the manager. He told me that they didn’t have that much cash on hand. I asked “you don’t have nine dollars in cash?.” He replied, “nine dollars”? There is a check for $30,000 US dollars (the largest Korean currency at the time was equivalent to 1 US dollar.) Years later I thought about the movie “The Jerk” with Steve Martin when he sat in front of the banker and had to count the money on the check and his head made a complete 360 degrees.
I called St. Louis and told them I received the money but what was I to do with it? The importer replied “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you… I want more the those clocks!”.
I then borrowed money, and contacted the local junk collectors and asked them to collect old clocks for me. I rented a warehouse, and the clocks started to come in. The supply was far greater than I had expected. Junk dealers from all over the country brought in all kinds of old clocks...all antique clocks in various conditions. I hired locals to restore them. Interestingly, in the 1880’s, Japan copied American made clocks and sold them to the local economy. When the Japanese occupied Korea from the 1930’s-1946, they shipped the same American style clocks to Korea. My warehouse became a dumping ground for these clocks. Within 2 years, the search for clocks expanded throughout all of Korea and I shipped more than 75,000 antique and antique reproduction clocks to the US and Canada.
By 1974 the supply of clocks ran out. That same year, I married Young Sun and moved back to the states where I set up shop in Issaquah, WA and raised my family in Bellevue. I now have 4 grown children, all living in the Northwest.
Back in the U.S., I hired people in Korea as well as in the states to restore old clocks and build replicas of them. Using top grains of wood and quality component parts from Germany, Mexico and Japan, I designed and recreated European and American style clocks. “The reproductions were as good as the originals.
I rented a warehouse, built and created these clocks in Issaquah for many years. I often advise and consult with collectors all over the country and attend the regional NAWCC clock shows every year. I also attend several gift, jewelry and home shows around the country where I stay abreast of the latest trends in the clock and watch markets.
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