John Wilding

John was born in 1924and it was while at school at Harrow that his love affair with clocks began. He looked up horology in the encyclopaedia and began to buy old clocks, taking them to pieces and repairing them. The coming of World War Two put his interest on hold as he enrolled in the King’s Dragoon Guards before being posted to Palestine and Egypt. After the war John used his skills as a mechanical engineer in the field of agriculture, going to the then South Rhodesia after getting married. The couple stayed two years before returning to the UK where he soon took up his interest in clock making again and from the 19502 he started to focus full time on them, contributing the Horological journal. He repaired and restored antique clocks during a spell working in Camden Passage, London. When he returned to Sussex where he came from he set up his first workshop at Lurgashall. He has built 50 clocks, along with restoring many others. He joined the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1994, and was awarded their “Masters Medal” in 2004. John had an interest in music from his school days where he played the French horn and played in a number of orchestras in Southern England. He has a great interest in chamber music, playing with wind quintets and brass quintets and fetes, flower shows and parties in the summer. His other interests include making and flying kites. He was also a keen squash player until his seventies. In 2007 he was made an M.B.E. for his services to clockmaking.

(by Jeremy Duke)

 

©2016 Jurgen Kehn

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