(dinging and music box playing)
- Entropy is the gradual decline into disorder.
I'm always aware of it passing
and the toll that it's taking on all the objects around me.
(bird singing)
These objects need someone to make sure
that, 100 years from now, they're gonna be delighting people
just as they are today.
(dramatic orchestral music)
I'm an antiquarian horologist.
It's quite a rare title to have next to your name.
I work on objects that have a watch or clock mechanism.
I'm maybe one of two people that has a master's
in horological conservation in this country.
I'm basically a mechanic,
but a mechanic from the 17th century.
(watch ticking)
I specialize in micromechanics,
and I work on machines called automata.
(winding clicking)
They're made to mimic living things in the world.
Human beings, birds, animals, flowers.
I think of them as the first instances
of artificial intelligence.
(winding clicking)
(bird singing)
Everything is self-contained in these mechanisms.
They run usually with springs.
So it's not running on batteries.
It's all running from just brass and steel.
(serene instrumental music)
Any time I get an object that's broken,
there's this innate need to bring it back.
Because these objects are so old,
if I need a part that I don't have,
which is more often than not the case,
I will go and make it myself.
(ratcheting)
It's the closest you can get to bringing something to life.
You get a silent bird.
The wings are broken.
There's no feathers.
It doesn't have eyes.
I get to bring all those things back,
so that it can sing again.
(bird singing)
(dramatic orchestral music)
I feel they're a significant part of our cultural heritage.
They were made in ways that I couldn't even do myself.
They were done by candlelight.
They didn't have electricity,
so I know they were using a foot pedal to cut wheels.
It's an incredible amount of work and craftsmanship
just to create something beautiful for the sake of that.
(bird singing)
People believed that these horologists were sorcerers,
so in a way I guess I'm a modern antique sorcerer.