Just what is a "horological conservator?" Ms. Cox takes care of timepieces, repairs and re-creates antique mechanisms, makes magical automaton birds sing, leads classes in geometric engraving with a Guillochè (think a Spirograph combined with a watchmaker's lathe), and writes and speaks about it all. Her studio's webpage has lots of cool projects, like a tiny, wind-up pocket sailing ship.
You can take a class at Memoria Technica, Cox's workshop in Puget Sound. Enjoy Brandon Moore's beautiful photo essay on the "Guillochè for Beginners" class. Amd if you can't take a class, here's an upcoming Theodore Talks featuring 'Nico' Cox.
With ingenuity and design came reflection on our place in the universe, the tilt of the earth's axis, precision and predictability, and the limits of our cognitive capacities. We engineered mechanisms to navigate our oceans and map the cosmos, explore metaphysical realms by animating the dead and rendering forms from the golden mean. We generated machines of wonder that could play music, make magic and conjure bird song. We made devices for detonating the first manifestation of manmade existential risk, destroying living organisms by the millions.
Previously: Horology considered hazardous: the `German Time Bomb` clock with its deadly mainspring
