(WOODLAND PARK, Colo.) — If the hands of time could speak, perhaps that voice would echo that of Ted Stoughton.

“I wish they could talk…” Stoughton said while admiring a clock he’s currently reconstructing.

The hands of time, at least for Stoughton, act as a veil lifting — a glimpse into history.

“Seth Thomas was an early clockmaker, who was making clocks in the early 1800s,” he detailed. “He made clocks, and the decoration was an angry eagle holding arrows in both talons. And we had just kicked the English out in 1814. So, it was a statement. If any other country doubts our sovereignty, we will go to battle.”

Stoughton worked as an aviation mechanic before retiring. Now, he sits at his kitchen table, tinkering much as he did as a child. “Little mechanic parts are mystical, especially to young boys,” he said reflecting on his own childhood.

Most of the clocks that sit in repair will be returned to their owners fixed and in working order. The rest will find their way to Stoughton’s shop in Colorado Springs.

The clocks are a reminder of the duality of time, both ever-slipping and ever-present. “I always say ‘We don’t own these clocks… we’re just the custodians because our generation will pass, but these old clocks will remain.'”