The Watchmaker

Barry Carter is a craftsman with over 40 years experience repairing and restoring high grade watches and antique clocks. He combines his love and knowledge of old-world watchmaking techniques with his skill and innovative use of modern high tech methods and equipment.

Barry’s fascination with clocks and watches began early in life. Following in the footsteps of early watchmakers, he began his career apprenticing under the tutelage of master watchmakers from Europe and Canada. When electronic watches came onto the market, he studied electronics so he could understand how to maintain them. At the age of 26, Birks Jewelers appointed him head watchmaker responsible for servicing the then-new Mosaba tuning fork watches. The precision and quality of his work on Rolex watches earned Barry a letter of commendation from Rolex.

Barry has been a member of the British Horological Institute and North America’s National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors for many years.

Over the past 15 years, Barry’s interests have shifted to the repair and restoration of historical clocks and watches. He has worked on some of the earliest clocks and watches ever made. Examples include early 1600s verge fusees and numerous long case clocks made in the 1700s and 1800s. Photographs of museum-quality timepieces Barry has restored can be viewed by clicking on the links to the right.

Clocks and watches from the 1600s and 1700s were all made by hand. Restoring them takes considerable skill, research and patience. Barry combines his knowledge of antiquarian horology with his knowledge of mathematical design, modern metallurgy, and computer numeric controlled machining to bring old timepieces back to life so they can be enjoyed now and passed on to future generations.

A rarity in this era of disposable timepieces, Barry prides himself on preserving the historic value of antiquarian timepieces.