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His family and friends have launched a Go Fund Me account, with $100,000 goal, said James.

“He’s definitely getting better day-by-day,” said James. “But it’s going to be a bit rough. He can’t sleep very well in the hospital because of the pain. It’s going to be a long haul. At that age, you don’t heal as quickly.”

And he will possibly require more surgery.

“This is really hard for him because he’s so stubborn,” said James.

His son said his dad often used his own funds for parts to fix clocks and has no retirement fund because he planned to continue working. He copyrighted the Gastown Steam Clock image, but has never received any payment, said James.

“If anyone who had ever taken a photo of the clock had given him a dollar, he would never have to work again,” he said.

Saunders has built more than 250 clocks, seven of them steam clocks, including one in Australia, one in Indianapolis, Indiana, and two in Japan, his friends and family said.

And he’s been involved in the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, the Lions Club and Young Men’s Adventure Weekend charities, they said.

“Dad has always been a giver, first and foremost, from his charity work to leaving a lasting legacy, at personal cost, to the world through his creations and clocks,” said his children on the Go Fund Me page. “He has been a selfless ambassador of this city for decades.”

Now he needs “the gift of time,” they said.

But Saunders’ brain keeps ticking.

He’s excited about plans for “my dream clock” made of railway rails and spikes to commemorate the railway workers from a century ago that he would like to build near Main Street and Terminal Avenue.

In the meantime, he’ll be training his apprentice and working on smaller clocks that won’t require climbing ladders, he said.