Welcome to my site
WHO IS
JONATHAN BEECH?
I have been interested in antique clocks since my early adulthood. I started my collection with a rather shabby wall clock given to me by my paternal grandmother – my father didn’t want it!.
Due to a change in my circumstances in the early 1980s, I was able to revue what I was doing in my life and decided that I would rather be involved in something I was passionate about than spending my days at endless meetings in a boring office. I went to West Dean College to train to be a clock restorer. I had no previous experience in restoration, and in fact still hadn’t managed to get my grandmother’s clock to go. Although it was against the college policy to allow students with no experience to do the course, my enthusiasm and doggedness got me through the test and interview. I spent 2 years there on a full time residential course, which prepared me for setting up my business in Cirencester.
I started in what was then known as Cirencester Workshops, now Brewery Arts, in a workshop on the ground floor with no heating and very little natural light ( very traditional). After 3 years I had started buying and selling as well – mainly due to customers asking me to find clocks. Following that, I was based in Ampney Crucis, where I had a purpose built workshop and gallery. I now live in town and have a shop in Dollar Street I have been in this business for over 25 years, and still love it. There is always something new to discover, which keeps my interest fresh. I still come across clocks that I have never seen before, and I hope I always will. And yes, I did eventually get grandma’s clock to go.
