AUBURN – It was not uncommon over the years for visitors to Republic Jewelry and Collectibles to walk into the store only to walk right out again. Those customers were there to see beloved watchmaker Larry Michaud, and if the old-timer happened to be out, it was worth a trip back another day.

Michaud, who still worked a 28-hour week at the age of 86, died Sunday after falling ill earlier this spring. At Republic Jewelry Monday was a day of mourning.

“We can’t imagine not having Larry here anymore,” said Dan Cunliffe II, owner of the Center Street store. “He was one of the nicest gentlemen you could ever meet. He was honest, dependable, always early for work and never complained about anything.”

Michaud became a watch repairman after being wounded twice in World War II, for which he received a Purple Heart. According to Cunliffe, the government offered Michaud an aptitude test to determine what skill he would excel at. The test revealed he would be good at everything except for farming. Someone then suggested that he look into watch repair. Larry, who loved tinkering as a child, jumped at the idea, Cunliffe said.

Michaud became a watch repairman at the age of 25. He spent two years at Waltham School of Watchmaking in Massachusetts, a few years working in South Carolina, and then finally set up shop in 1948 on Lisbon Street in Lewiston.

After nearly three decades, Michaud went to work for Baribault Jewelers, where he often worked until 2 a.m. on a particularly difficult job. In 1983 someone asked if he would retire when Baribault’s was sold. At age 62, when most people would consider retirement, Michaud replied with his signature comment: “I will retire when I get old.”

Even into his 80s, Michaud had no plans to retire because he loved his work and considered watch repair a lost art.

“When I open a watch, I want to find out why it’s not working,” Michaud said in an interview with the Sun Journal last summer.

He went to work at Republic Jewelry in 1993. There, he quickly became a favorite of the customers who came in for watch battery replacement or more intricate work to be done on heirlooms. News that the famed watch repairman had died was spreading around the community on Monday.

“He will be sadly missed by our entire staff and I am sure by hundreds of people in the L-A area,” Cunliffe said.