It’s all Amish inside Time and Optics, at least at first
glance. But as you look around at the
merchandise, you quickly realize that if it is Amish, it’s probably the most
unusually non-Amish store in Holmes
County. It’s a birder’s paradise, you see, and
although it is run by an Amish family, it is anything but plain. If a birder would use it, they sell it there,
from books and electronic song identifiers to binoculars and spotting scopes. Even tripods and telescopes. Plus as the name suggests, they sell and
repair clocks and watches of all types and vintages. Yes it is all Amish there, except that you’ll
think it isn’t.
To be sure, the trappings are
distinctly Amish, and so are the furnishings.
The shelves and display cases are simple and plain. Clocks hang (and chime) on all the
walls. In the back room, there are
hand-crafted bird feeders and houses for sale, right beside the more commercial
varieties. The lighting is all provided
by skylights and gas mantles hung from the ceiling, and on darker days, Mrs.
Hershberger or one of her daughters will follow you through the little store to
light the gas mantles so you can see better.
When you move back to the sales counter, they’ll go around and turn off
the lamps. So you’ll know you’re in an
Amish establishment. Really, it’s hard
to miss.
But once you have seen all the
merchandise for sale, you’ll also think you’re in one of the most exotic stores
for optics and time pieces you have ever visited. Let’s just take the display case for
binoculars. They sell the finest - Swarovski,
Leica, Nikon, Vortex, Kowa, Zeiss, Celestron, Opticron, and Leupold. They have the same variety and quality among
their spotting scopes. For tripods and
heads, they mostly sell Manfrotto, and it doesn’t get much better than
that. If you’re into fine birding
optics, you’ll need about an hour to take it all in.
Then at the display case, they have
time pieces for sale and a counter to examine them for repair. Friends of ours had a mantle clock repaired
last year, and it took a year before they had it done. That’s an unhurried pace even for Amish
people, but it’s not that they are slow with the work. They take watches for repair through the mail,
and the backlog is so long that a year is the typical wait. I’ll take my grandfather’s railroad watch in
there one day soon, and that’ll probably take a year, too. But when they fix them, they fix them
properly, and most people think it’s worth the delay.
If you can’t travel to Holmes County
to see it for yourself, at least send away for their catalog. A letter will do the trick, but you could
also call (866-308-0727). Just remember
that it is an Amish store, and phones are not allowed inside. Instead, their phone sits in a booth out by
the road. You’ll probably have to leave
a message, and I can’t guarantee how quickly they might respond. I doubt they check their messages every
day. On second thought a letter is
probably better. It’s a Millersburg
address (6954 CR 77, Millersburg, OH 44654), but
the store is a mile south of Mt.
Hope on Holmes County
77.
If you’re going to send a watch for
repair, just be sure to insure delivery and enclose all your information. Mrs. Hershberger can tell you stories about
time pieces that show up without any owner’s information or those that are
shipped but never arrive. She just
smiles and shrugs. Amish aren’t magic,
she’ll say. I’ll have to disagree. Time
and Optics is very much magical. Oh,
and did I forget? They also sell
astronomical telescopes and supplies, too.
Amish, you say? Oh I assure you,
it very much is.
Labels: Amish, Amish Culture, Amish-Country Mysteries, Holmes County, P. L. Gaus
