For nearly all of Robert Coffin’s life, the passing of time has been marked by the ticking of many, many clocks.

Mr. Coffin, now 90, first repaired a clock while a pupil at the grammar school in this seaside village of 900 people. He has collected, sold, made and fixed clocks — only those that run on cogs and springs, “nothing electric” — ever since, and is now known as the man to call in eastern Maine if a clock needs fixing.