Horology

Horology is one of the most specialised and historically rich disciplines in craft education, concerned with the design, making, repair, and conservation of clocks, watches, and other precision timekeeping instruments. The horologist works at the intersection of fine craftsmanship, mechanical engineering, and the history of technology, engaging with objects that span centuries of innovation and that represent some of the most extraordinary achievements of human ingenuity. From the escapements of seventeenth-century pocket watches to the complications of contemporary luxury timepieces, the craft demands extraordinary precision, patience, and the ability to understand and manipulate mechanisms at a very fine scale.

At Birmingham City University, this three-year full-time programme gives you the opportunity to discover the evolution of designs and materials behind clocks and watches while developing the specialist skills required to design, make, and repair these fascinating mechanisms using fine hand and machining techniques. You will engage with the history of horology alongside the practical training in the workshop skills that professional horological practice demands, learning to disassemble, diagnose, repair, and restore mechanisms of varying complexity and period. The programme develops your precision craftsmanship alongside your understanding of the technical and historical dimensions of the discipline, and Birmingham's strong tradition in jewellery and craft education provides a supportive context for this unusual and demanding subject.

Graduates go on to careers as horological technicians, watch repairers, clock restorers, and craftspeople in the luxury watchmaking and antique clock sectors. The UK and international watchmaking and horology industries employ skilled practitioners for repair, restoration, and conservation, and the combination of historical knowledge and technical craft skill the degree develops is also relevant to museum collections care, heritage conservation, and specialist retail. Some graduates build independent repair and restoration practices, while others find roles with auction houses, specialist dealers, or museum collections.