| Man who knows the value of time ROY Clements | | | | apprenticeship of five years or more, preparing them |
| antique clock business began as a hobby more than | | | | to work on some of the finest antiques in the world. |
| 30 years ago but now draws customers from all | | | | We completely dismember the movement, which can |
| over the world, including members of the Royal | | | | contain 20 pivots, and refit the wheels. For the |
| Family. As a partner in his company Coppelia | | | | cases, we only restore with wood of the same |
| Antiques, he employs 11 people at the Cheshire | | | | period, so we may buy an antique table for 1,500 and |
| workshop and the company's prestigious shop in | | | | hand-saw it into veneers to replace the wood on a |
| London's Mayfair. Roy, 65, was a senior engineer | | | | damaged clocks case - we are very much into |
| jetting all around the world with Pilkingtons until he | | | | recycling! Coppelia Antiques only work on clocks in |
| took a six month holiday after building the Viking | | | | sleepy original condition, with a minimum of parts |
| cycle factory for the British Government in Northern | | | | changed. All their clocks have their correct |
| Ireland. "I used to restore my own clocks and those | | | | movements and original bases, unlike many for sale in |
| of other dealers, as a hobby, and my wife Valerie | | | | auction houses, known as marriages, in which the |
| said why not do clocks full-time?" Roy explains. | | | | movements do not belong to the case. We do not |
| "After giving up a high profile job, company car and | | | | buy these type of clocks, says Roy. We never |
| pension we have not looked back." | | | | apologise for spending three or four weeks in |
| His firm, Coppelia Antiques has been based in Plumley | | | | restoring or bringing back to life an old tired clock, so |
| near Knutsford since 1974. In 1995 they approached | | | | long as it has not been butchered in the past. |
| the Queen's jewellers, Aspreys (now | | | | After we have finished the restoration and we are |
| Asprey-Garrards), offering to take over their antique | | | | happy, all our staff admire the piece and it gives us all |
| clock business, RA Lee. In its place Roy set up a new | | | | a lot of satisfaction. We have transformed something |
| London company, Pendulum of Mayfair, and bought | | | | thats not been touched for over a hundred years |
| the former Fred Perry tennis shop in Maddox Street, | | | | sometimes, into something that you want to hold |
| off New Bond Street. Two of Roys three sons, | | | | and cuddle. Roys personal clock collection includes one |
| Duncan and Daniel, are involved in the business, which | | | | once owned by Rudyard Kipling, bought for 13 |
| came from a family fascination with clocks. My father | | | | guineas in 1934, a brass lantern clock from the 1600s, |
| was a very practical man, from an early age he let | | | | made by one of the first clockmakers in Lancashire, |
| me look inside the clock mechanisms to see what | | | | and one of the first Cumberland clocks, made by |
| made them tick, says Roy. | | | | Aaron Cheeseborough. Many clocks come with their |
| I had a five year apprenticeship with the UK Atomic | | | | own stories, such as the one bought from an old lady |
| Energy Authority using all different machine tools, | | | | who remembered how, as a young girl, she had to |
| lathes and other mechanical devices, so I am part of | | | | curtsey every time it chimed. Roy also collects music |
| the engineering world. Roy, a chartered engineer, has | | | | boxes and other automata, such as a 19th century |
| a boyish enthusiasm for the timepieces lovingly | | | | French music box featuring a monkey that smokes |
| restored at the Plumley workshop, and is eager to | | | | cigarettes, blows smoke rings and wafts the smoke |
| explain the history and influence of British clock | | | | away with its paw. |
| making. In the 18th century the best craftsmen were | | | | The monkey was featured in an episode of the |
| usually found in port cities such as Liverpool, | | | | Sherlock Holmes TV series and smoked so many |
| Edinburgh, Bristol and Hull where mahogany could be | | | | cigarettes that one of its tubes was blocked with tar |
| found on the quaysides, carried as ballast in ships | | | | and had to be replaced - proof that smoking is bad |
| bringing cotton in exchange for slaves. Each city had | | | | for monkeys. Some customers, aware that time is |
| a distinctive style of clock but all this variety came to | | | | money, buy antique clocks as tax-efficient |
| an end in the first decade of the 19th century, with | | | | investments, as they are exempt from capital gains |
| the introduction of mass produced clock faces and | | | | and inheritance tax. One 90-year-old lady approached |
| movements(mechanisms) in Birmingham. I stop at | | | | Roy to invest more than 3 million in clocks recently. |
| 1810, says Roy, consultant clocks editor of Millers | | | | Another tax rule exempts the clocks from VAT if |
| Antiques Price Guide. He has amassed one of the | | | | they are exported, which explains the sad statistic |
| finest collections of 18th century clocks in the world. | | | | that 87pc of sales go to the US, says Roy. As he |
| But never again will it be possible to collect the clocks | | | | talks about his love for clocks, an orchestra of |
| I've got, he says, mourning the loss of craft skills and | | | | chimes, bongs, rings and tings builds to a crescendo |
| the values which created objects still in use more | | | | as the hour approaches. Roy has a simple explanation |
| than 300 years later. They are special, my clocks, not | | | | for the fascination of clocks, particularly grandfather |
| like things with a battery that you buy today and | | | | clocks. Each tick is at a frequency of one per second, |
| then throw away when the battery runs out. | | | | which is very similar to the first sound we hear, our |
| At the Cheshire workshop, where clocks stand eight | | | | mothers heartbeat in the womb. It's very soothing if |
| deep waiting for restoration, staff serve a minimum | | | | you are in a room alone with a grandfather clock. |