The recession and the changing face of Bermuda tourism are the primary reasons behind the closing of Timeless Antiques, said the owner of the business.

"I started the business because I knew there was a market to repair and restore clocks,'' said Mr. Peter Durhager.

Mr. Durhager founded Timeless Antiques over ten years ago.

As well as offering clock repair services, his business sells grandfather clocks, books, furniture, tapestries as well as brass and copper items.

Timeless Antiques, located on Church Street across from City Hall, will close for good the day before Christmas.

Sales have declined and "repairs alone are not enough to keep the business going,'' he said.

"It is time to close.'' One part-time employee will lose his job at the store.

Timeless Antiques is currently advertising a half price sale on all merchandise beginning on Saturday through December 24.

For the first five or six years the business was good, he said.

The lingering recession and the number of tourists has dropped, he said.

In the past, the business sold and shipped these types of items abroad, he said.

And today's tourist no longer buys grandfather clocks and furniture, he added.

There are bittersweet feelings associated with closing the business, he said, reflecting on the decade of work.

"But there comes a time when you have to face the facts,'' he said.

"I can't see the economy turning around in six months or in a year,'' he said.

Mr. Durhager, like his father and his grandfather as well as an uncle and cousin, is a watchmaker by profession.

"In all honestly, I have no idea what I will do after the store closes.'' Prior to starting the business, Mr. Durhager was the service department manager at Astwood-Dickinson Co. for 18 years and prior to that he was with Otto Wurz jewellers for six years.

Mr. Durhager, born in Austria, said unsuccessful efforts to find a watch maker/repairer was also a factor in the decision to close the business.

Many European watchmakers are settled into their own businesses while young people who pursue this profession are likely follow in their family's footsteps eventually taking over the businesses.

Mr. Durhager made Bermuda his home after following a fellow Austrian watchmaker who had come to the Island to ply his craft.

The colleague had worked in his father's shop and, during visits back to Austria, told the Durhager family about the Island.