A Craft of Future Past: Mastering Antiquarian Horology

Brittany Nicole Cox is one of the only antiquarian horologists in the world. She's basically a mechanic—a mechanic from the 17th century. Cox fixes old machines with watch or clock mechanisms inside them for a living. Often, these machines are missing parts that frequently no longer exist, so Cox fashions them herself. To visit her workshop is to see what the future looked like centuries ago, and while Cox's trade is laborious, time-consuming and incredibly intricate, she is preserving a magical part of humanity's past.

This story is a part of our Human Condition series. Come along and let us connect you to some of the most peculiar, stirring, extraordinary, and distinctive people in the world.

[james_bond]

super cool video. you guys are a gem here on YouTube

[MEDKRATS]

To consistently and frequently put out good content on interesting topics and people, that educate and entertain us. Props to this channel!

[beepot]

Very impressive and fascinating job. She seems like a person that I could listen to for hours.

[TeriyakiBoy]

I could not stop saying "wow" out loud multiple times while watching this particular video. WOW!

[yonatanmakara]

Robotics from the 1700 century. Im kind of interest lol. Peaked my mind

[jarroddowalter]

Extremely inspiring! You can tell how much she loves her craft.

[ericohara]

Wonderful, I have to look at this repeatedly to take in what Brittany says without being distracted by the workshop that surrounds her. The mellow, aged machine tools and special items are utterly fascinating. Here in the UK I have a Myford and tools from a gentleman that had a WW1 RFC history. I feel privileged to use his items every day in my workshop. Brittany's workshop has that over and over.

[Romanak]

2:10 looks like straight out of movie, this is an awesome video and shows the beauty of Antiquarian Horology not seen anymore.

[shy.kumquat]

I love her. I've always had an obsession for mechanical clocks, musical boxes, and automatons. People just thought I was weird, they don't see how fascinating it is.

[Fasepalm_]

This is the best channel and I always laugh when I see these as adds because I've already watched them!

[melisasanchez]

My dad doesn’t have a degree but he’s been rebuilding antique player pianos and music boxes for over 40 years. He’s 82. He’s currently fixing an antique bird cage that has 3 singing birds. And he also just makes missing parts himself. We just never knew there was an official title.

[allennguyen]

thank you Great Big Story staff to bring these story to life. Please don't go down the path that buzzfeed once did...

[stemikger]

Brittney is an amazing person and I got to communicate with her through Instagram. Not only is she incredibly smart and beautiful, she is so kind. I have an innocent old man crush on her and she is always so nice to respond or just add a little smile. Her kindness really shines through. She is also in several documentaries. She chose the road less traveled and followed her passion, we are all the beneficiaries of watching her do what she does. It really is magic. I like to think of her as the Goddess of Horology

[chadrutkowski]

Brittany simply amazing!!!! i have a great love for Horology, i studied in my high school three years. its a small world and its only getting smaller for those of us that have the true love for Horology. well done:)
thank you
Chad

[tgarcia]

You're amazing, I love to see people who love their work. Bravo

[corndog]

Women are so incredible. This is so inspiring to me!! I want my daughter to grow up watching videos like this one.

[syrenawebb]

This is so neat! I'm glad that there are specialized people like this who are preserving these mechanisms if the past. I really like antiques and such, so it makes me happy that someone finds joy in preserving such relics for future generations. 💜

[DigitalicaEG]

I love this channel! Where can I pay to get more content with longer documentaries??!

[heatherkaye]

I NEED more of this person! What an interesting job.

[Zattack]

Again this channel reminds me of both the amount of skill those who came before us had and that much of that skill has been lost to time