Stuck in time: After death of McHenry clock shop owner, customers try to get back timepieces locked inside

McHenry-area residents who’ve contacted the city about their missing clocks should not have to wait much longer for some good news.

The local shop in which the clocks are locked up will have a phone number posted in the window by the weekend for customers to call for information, and perhaps as early as Wednesday, the attorney for the late owner’s estate said.

“Don’t worry, your clocks are safe and you will get them back,” McHenry-based estate attorney Guy Youman said.

The owner of McHenry Clock Co., 1216 N. Green St., Charles “Nick” Sedore, died on Jan. 3, according to his death notice and a sign in the store’s window. Those who’d left their clocks there for repair work before Sedore’s death have apparently not been able to get them back since.

That store window has notes from customers whose clocks are locked inside, asking how they can get their time pieces returned.

“Don’t worry, your clocks are safe and you will get them back.”

—  McHenry-based estate attorney Guy Youman

Ross Polerecky, McHenry’s director of community development, has a list going of 12 residents who have called the city asking for help. Those residents first contacted the McHenry Police Department, asking what they could do to get their clocks back, Polerecky said.

The city does not have a contact for Sedore, Polerecky said, but was gathering contact information from those customers so they could be reached once they had an answer for them.

Dawn Bremer, whose real estate agency, The Bremer Team - Keller Williams Success Realty, has an office next door, said clock shop customers have also turned up in her office asking of she knew how they could get their timepieces back.

That answer comes as a sign that should be posted on the store window by the weekend with a number those clients can call to get their clocks back, Youman said.

“When a person dies, it unsettles everything,” Youman said of the disruption, adding that Nick Sedore “was a mainstay in the community and when he died, things had to be shut down.”

The late shop owner’s son - also named Charles Sedore - is working to get the store reopened and get the clocks back to the owners, Youman said. “He lost his dad and is getting things in order.”

While Youman said he does not have a timeframe on when that will happen, he does anticipate the number to call will be available shortly.

Youman asked residents not to call his office to ask when that will be, however, saying that is “not a good idea” as he does not have control of the storefront.

He thanked the customers waiting for their repaired clocks for their patience.

“The clocks will be repaired and there will be a phone number to call and verify” their return, Youman said. “It will be business as usual, hopefully soon.”