Time on this couple's side

James Island natives Chris and Kim Huff often talked about opening a small shop to sell, repair and restore clocks, with two stipulations.

"We have to have dogs, and we have to have tea," Chris Huff said.

The Huffs have long set aside 4 p.m. to have a cup of hot tea together. They describe it as their time to connect. Sadie and Badie, their Peek-a-Poms, and Lady, a retriever mix, make themselves at home in the downstairs portion of the Huffs' business, Time Fades Away Clocks, 769 Folly Road.

On a recent evening, Kim Huff settled into an easy chair downstairs while her husband tinkered with the movement, the internal mechanism, of a turn-of-the-century German clock. Some 85 other clocks are waiting for repair.

Chris Huff made his first clock when he was 15. The small wall clock still works and is in the Huffs' West Ashley home, along with the grandfather clock he made for his wife in 2002. His knowledge of clocks is self-taught. His professional education came at Trinity Seminary in Pittsburgh, where he received a Master of Divinity degree.

Huff pastored at Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania and Charleston, most recently at West Shore Church in West Ashley. He repaired clocks out of his home for about six years and is now on an extended sabbatical from pastoring. The Huffs opened the James Island shop Oct. 1.

"In a lot of ways, it's been like another ministry," Kim Huff said.

"It's amazing what people will tell you about their lives in the process of working on a clock," her husband added.

The clocks that come to the Huffs often have been in families for years and have sentimental value. One teary-eyed woman who brought in a broken clock said she learned to tell time by it when it was in her grandmother's kitchen.

"When someone brings you an old clock, there's a story behind it," Kim Huff said.

The Huffs want to foster a friendly, sit-and-stay-awhile atmosphere in their shop. The showroom has a living room feel with a sitting area, cuckoo clocks made in the Black Forest, ornate grandfather clocks and other pieces.

"It's peaceful. It's restful. You've got clocks ticking around you," Chris Huff said.

Kim Huff, a part-time mammographer, is usually in the showroom. Her husband's work often takes him out to the field to work on larger clocks, such as the tubular chime grandfather clock at the Wentworth Mansion. One of the most unusual clocks he's repaired was one made in the 1700s in Germany. Its movement was made of wood.