Víctor’s story
Born in the early 1980s in the north of Spain, from a young age, I enjoyed playing with broken electrical appliances and building battery powered circuits with light bulbs and motors. At the age of 18, I begun repairing old valve radios, and few years later developed a passion for the subject, eventually assembling a small collection of early radio receivers from the 1920s and early 1930s.
With a deep enthusiasm for learning from the past and a keen interest in obsolete technology, I moved to Valladolid after finishing school, where I graduated in History. One day, while exploring a derelict house with friends, I discovered an 18th century bunch of documents concerning the construction of a turret clock. Days later, we found the clock itself in the local church tower. This experience not only sparked my interest in antiquarian horology, but also shaped my future.
After graduating, I chose to pursue a doctorate in history of horology. During this time, I visited numerous historical archives and libraries in search of original, unpublished documents for my thesis. I also spent time at universities both in Spain and abroad -including Rome and Bologna in Italy, and Cambridge in the UK- gathering sources and bibliographical material for my research. It was during this period that I also begun to teach myself watchmaking by reading manuals and practising extensively with scrap watches.
Upon completing my thesis in 2017, I moved to London -where I still reside- to take up a Sackler Fellowship at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich. There, I studied a remarkable Renaissance astronomical clock held in the collections, under supervision of then-curator Rory McEvoy.
Later, I began working with Seth Kennedy, a well-respected antiquarian watch and pocket watch case maker, who became my mentor and helped me professionalise my skills. My ongoing learning in the field is also supported by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, of which I am proud to be a Freeman. I am also a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society, for which I have lectured and in whose journal, Antiquarian Horology, I have published several articles and other contributions.
I am also an amateur film photographer and own a small collection of vintage pre-war cameras, which I use as often as I can. I am the creator and proud owner of theobsoletecamera.com
Click here to read my interview by MrWatchmaster. Alternatively, you can read this earlier interview in Spanish.
DrTimepiece.co.uk 