I really enjoy watching clock repair videos, and have picked up loads of great advice from these helpful hobbyists and professionals.
Clock Conservator
Matthew Read is in a category of his own: he conserves antique and historic clocks and clockworks, including the famous Bowes Silver Swan automaton. He has co-authored books on clock repair, such as How to repair pendulum clocks. Volume 1.
I follow Matthew to learn the differences between clock conservation vs. clock repair or restoration, and to learn advanced clock repair techniques.
Matthew has several channels:
- @howtorepairpendulumclocks covers clock repair techniques and topics, taught in a thorough and entertaining way.
- @howtorepairpendulumclocks-live is a livestream, mostly of the repairs of an early 19th century tall-case clock that spent most of its life in a pub, then in an attic. He affectionately calls it the Gin-O-Clock because it arrived in parts, in an old gin box. The first video of the series is in https://www.youtube.com/@howtorepairpendulumclocks-live/videos insead of in the livestream part of the channel.
- @openclockclubarchive325 is the archive of a year of weekly clock club meetings, where Matthew covers and demonstrates various repair techniques. Highly educational.
- @readrepairs is another channel of Matthew’s repair videos.
- Matthew also hosts a Facebook page, but since I’m not on Facebook I don’t know much about it.
Professional Clock Repairers
- Don Perry @dperry428 is a highly experienced clock repairer I follow for the start-to-finish videos of his repairs. It’s like looking over his shoulder as he disassembles, cleans, examines, and repairs a clock, explaining each step as he goes. I put him in the Professional list because he seems to offer repairs in exchange for donations to charity.
- James A. Lea @jamesa.leathevillageclockm8113. He was in the clock repair and restoration business for more than fifty years. Until about 2018 James posted tutorials on specific clock repair techniques. Unfortunately, I found an NAWCC note that he passed away in 2020.
- Tommy Jobson @TommyJobson posts in-depth repair videos on specific topics.
- Clock Repairs Merseyside @clockrepairsmerseyside8303 posts interesting videos around specific clock repairs.
- Chris clock repair @Chrisclockrepair posts ‘how to’ videos, and full-length repairs of specific clocks.
- Bracken Clockworks @BrackenClockWorks posts useful info for beginners, as well as repairs of specific clocks.
- Clock Repair Service @ClockRepairService offers quick tips for clock owners.
- Born Again Clocks @bornagainclocks650 has posted a few tips I haven’t seen elsewhere. Seems to have stopped posting in 2018.
- Mark Dalton @DaltonClockRepair posts his repairs of interesting antique clocks
Hobbyists
Kind of a mash of hobbyists and those who perform clock repair as part of their clock sales business.
- OK Bridges @okbridges shows his clock repairs, as well as his other machine restoration interests.
- Just Mike @justmike57 is into getting clocks running without spending a lot of money on tools. His clocks could do with a disassembly and cleaning, but I like his pragmatic style of doing the minimum necessary to get the clock running again to save it from a dumpster.
- Adair’s Repairs @cheryladair732 posts tips for beginning clock repairers.
- Time4Clocks @time4clocks posts interesting repairs and clock history.
- The Gregola Horology Club @thegregolahorologyclub6799 is useful for alarm clock repair videos.
- pinpallet20 / The Vintage Alarm Clock Club @VACC is another channel handy for alarm clock repair videos.
- Bradford Needham @BradfordNeedham is my own channel. I generally post full-length repair videos – I hope to resume clock repair (and posting about them) soon.