The Clock, The Diamonds And The Lighthouse

An entertaining and colorful merchant interview for me is much like a quality tool for the handyman.  A good storyteller is not only a pleasure to listen to but makes my job thoroughly enjoyable and inevitably results in a good read.  , owner of is that guy – a great storyteller. 

His story is steeped in family history going back 50 years to New York.  What now is a thriving business with three locations in Groton, Norwich and Waterford, began with Mark’s parents, Peter and Lorraine Grader. 

“My mother graduated with an accounting degree and a business background.  My father came from Germany with watch-making skills and thus was the birth of Graders Clock Shop,” says Mark Grader. 

After 5 years running the business in New York, The Grader family, in pursuit of a more family-friendly environment, decided Connecticut was just the spot. The Graders purchased a jewelry store in downtown Norwich named Ferguson’s which Mark Grader says was one of about 10 jewelry stores downtown at the time.  The Graders integrated clocks into the already established jewelry store, which became Grader Jewelers. 

“I grew up with the business. I kiddingly say that my first job title at ten was HCCW - Head Cuckoo Clock Winder,” Grader says with a laugh. 

Now a Groton resident, Grader grew up in Norwich and went to Norwich Free Academy.  Inspired by a jewelry-making class offered at NFA while a student, which Grader considered a “very happy coincidence”, he continued his education in business and gemology.  By 1983, with two degrees under his belt, he worked at Grader Jewelers full time.    

“My parents used to go to Belgium to buy diamonds, and I first went with them in my 20s,” says Grader, as he pulls out a jaw-dropping, 6-karat diamond ring with a colorless 5-karat center stone from Belgium. 

He explains the importance of traveling for his product.

“Think of a farmer’s market," he says. "The closer you get to the source, the better the product.  And when you pick out an apple, I do the same with diamonds - cherry picking for the best among many.”

Traveling is an exciting and appealing part of the business to Grader.  Over the years, he has foraged loyal working relationships and made friends on the road.  He describes visiting gem shows much the same way one would describe a summer camping trip with friends, where the destination is secondary to the company.

“In the early 90s, I was invited by my pearl supplier to go to the Hong Kong Jewelry Show. He calls it the Maharaja jewelry. It was dripping with diamonds and had very high-end pieces,” says Grader.  “These were pieces you would see on celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor.”

Grader remembers with fondness receiving an invitation from friends in Maine to attend DeBeers Diamond Master’s Tournament for Maine jewelers: a game like monopoly, combining luck and knowledge of jewelry, and diamonds in particular. Grader won, made it to the finals in New York, and won the grand prize - an all-expenses paid trip for two to London with a tour of the DeBeers headquarters.

The family tradition of selling clocks remains, but is combined with new innovative ideas by Grader.  Fourteen years ago, he took his small boat to the open waters and photographed Ledgelight lighthouse.  

“That was the beginning of a 14-year tradition of going out to local lighthouses, taking pictures from all sides and then having the tooling made up in Rhode Island to make these ornaments,” says Grader.

Grader now carries on the tradition of a family-run business with his wife, Linda, and seems to love every minute of it.

“I work in a business with beautiful things and we are involved with the best part of peoples lives – the special moments,”  says Grader.  “So not only do I enjoy selling, but I love to buy and am always looking for the next great thing.”