MA Conservation Studies: Clocks & Related Objects
West Dean College

The Conservation Masters programme was the logical next step for me, having completed the 2-year foundation course in horology at West Dean.  The foundation course gave me a solid underpinning of practical clockmaking skills and introduced conservation decision-making and scientific understanding to the process.  The MA has allowed me to enhance my technical ability by working with finer and more complex mechanisms, as well as increasing my understanding of conservation science, with the main focus of my research dissertation being chelating agents and brass corrosion.

The learning environment at West Dean is fantastic, and thanks to the staff’s extensive network and institutional relationships I have been able to work on many interesting and exceptional projects. I am currently very fortunate to be working on a unique falling globe clock given to the Society of Antiquaries in 1852 by Benjamin Vulliamy. Conserving a clock of this rarity and provenance is a once in a lifetime experience. The other highlight for me this year was my work placement at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth, where my main project was cataloguing, photographing and condition assessing their collection of 18th and 19th century watches