Simon Johnson
Simon Johnson lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand, having emigrated from England with his parents in 1961. His horological interests began at 14 when he swapped a magnifying glass with a schoolfriend for a 1930s Roamer
pocket watch, assuming a local watchmaker could fix it. The watchmaker showed him the ruined balance staff under his loupe and told him about the effects of moisture on pinions and hairsprings.
By now he knew that he had to have a pocket watch, so he mowed lawns to build up his finances and borrowed books on watches from the public library. One book set him on his: The Country Life Book of
Watches. Good watches were easier to come by in the 1970s than they are now. He soon found a fine free-sprung three-quarter-plate hunter by Charles Frodsham with an up-and-down dial and
ADFmsz serial number signifying that it was of the highest calibre. Other watches followed. As a university student he rode around the lower North Island hunting out English duplex, cylinder and detent watchers with varying
degrees of luck. Then he married, bought a house and discovered English clocks.
After reading Brian Loomes’ books and articles in Clocks he wanted an interesting provincial longcase, something which reflected the maker’s character - and as with the watches - one wasn’t enough.
Now he has nine of them distributed around his three bedroom house. When not chasing clocks and watches he manages the Public Library in nearby Manawatu District and has written articles for Clocks,
Antiquarian Horology and a local classic car magazine.
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