In this fascinating podcast John Reardon speaks with his great friend, William Andrewes who is one of the world’s leading horologists, a historian, clockmaker, inventor, artist, and sundial maker. Will’s career in the watch world has been extraordinary. In this part 1 of a two-part podcast, Andrewes explains how he started as an apprentice with the legendary watchmaker George Daniels, first completing a clock made by John Harrison who solved the problem of finding longitude at sea. Andrewes shares several anecdotes of his time with George Daniels giving us a rare insight to one of the world’s greatest watchmakers. After teaching at Eton College and working at the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, Will Andrewes’s career moved across the pond when Seth Atwood asked him to be curator of the then most important horological museum, the Time Museum in Rockford, IL. Andrewes shares charming stories about the Time Museum including how Seth Atwood managed to buy the most important Patek Philippe watch ever made, the Graves Supercomplication directly from Henry Graves’s grandson. In part 2, Will Andrewes shares his own explanation as to ‘What is time?’ and why he has devoted the current chapter of his career to making sundials.
Watch this interview on Collectability’s YouTube.