Recommended Reading: How To Make Complicated 18th-Century Clocks Work (And Look) Like New Again
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Finding a good watchmaker to take care of your favorite vintage Submariner is tough. Finding a good clockmaker to lovingly restore an 18th-century clock with chiming bird automata and delicate gold leaf finish is something else entirely. But luckily for us, the folks at Atlas Obscura discovered one such person, clockmaker Nico Cox, and asked her for insights into her nearly-forgotten craft.
It’s easy to forget that not all horology comes in wristwatch form – there are clocks, sundials, and all manner of other timekeepers out there too. Cox is what we’d call an “antiquarian horologist,” meaning she specializes in the kinds of pieces you just don’t see anymore, specifically automata. And she’s seriously passionate about it. Just check out this coloring book of guilloché patterns she created. Yeah, I wasn’t kidding. In this story, Cox takes us through her journey into horology, the clock she always knew she needed to fix, and some of her more interesting projects.
