Popping into a hardware store won’t do when Brittany Nicole Cox needs parts or tools. She’s an antiquarian horologist, trained to conserve and restore historic clocks and the clockwork showpieces called automatons (1 and 8, below). “I work on objects created before mass production, before the standardization of things like screw threading,” Cox explains. So when she needs to replace a part in a delicate mechanism that may have sat frozen for a century, she builds it in her Seattle workshop, often using tools that also are antiques. “There’s such craft and art in them,” she says.
To conserve and restore historic clocks and the clockwork showpieces called automatons—an example is top left in this photo—antiquarian horologist Brittany Nicole Cox relies on some specialized tools that themselves are antiques.
Go Further
Animals
- Mystery dolphin deaths plague casino on the Las Vegas stripMystery dolphin deaths plague casino on the Las Vegas strip
- Chicago museum disrupted an at-risk bird's habitatChicago museum disrupted an at-risk bird's habitat
- Hibernating bears could hold a clue to treating diabetesHibernating bears could hold a clue to treating diabetes
- Why these furry male mammals sing with humanlike rhythmWhy these furry male mammals sing with humanlike rhythm
Environment
- Oysters are making a comeback on menus and in the water—for nowOysters are making a comeback on menus and in the water—for now
- Five technologies and innovations helping to protect the Okavango, Video Story
- Paid Content
Five technologies and innovations helping to protect the Okavango - This hot pepper is surviving Italy's extreme heat waveThis hot pepper is surviving Italy's extreme heat wave
- Marine heat waves are rising. What are these blobs of hot water?Marine heat waves are rising. What are these blobs of hot water?
History & Culture
- Excavating lifestyles of the rich and English underneath LondonExcavating lifestyles of the rich and English underneath London
- Was this miracle plant eaten to extinction 2,000 years ago?Was this miracle plant eaten to extinction 2,000 years ago?
- An astonishing—and accidental—Ice Age cave discoveryAn astonishing—and accidental—Ice Age cave discovery
- U.S. nuclear testing's devastating legacy lingers 30 years laterU.S. nuclear testing's devastating legacy lingers 30 years later
- The first Black Marines tell their stories—before it's too lateThe first Black Marines tell their stories—before it's too late
Science
- Spectacular fossil fish reveal a critical period of evolutionSpectacular fossil fish reveal a critical period of evolution
- What comes after Omicron? New variants are emerging.What comes after Omicron? New variants are emerging.
- To practice saving Earth, NASA hit an asteroid with a spacecraftTo practice saving Earth, NASA hit an asteroid with a spacecraft
Travel
- Follow in the footsteps of samurai on this ancient trailFollow in the footsteps of samurai on this ancient trail