TEENAGER Lewis Walduck has plenty of time on his hands… literally. For the 17-year-old, whose first words as a baby were “Tick-tock”, has just started a rare horological apprenticeship with the Clock Work Shop in Kings Worthy. “I love my job and am so grateful for it,” said Lewis, one of whose distant ancestors was Oliver Cromwell. “It’s a dream come true – clocks and watches, and how they work, have fascinated me for as long as I can remember.” Clocking on for his apprenticeship means a 70-mile drive every day from his home in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and caused a desperate race to pass his driving test before Christmas to avoid a potential four-hour train journey to work.
Lewis Walduck with some of his sizeable clock collection. Picture: Mal Tattersall TEENAGER Lewis Walduck has plenty of time on his hands – literally. For the 17-year-old from Bicester – whose first words as a baby were ‘tick-tock’ – owns a collection of more than 50 antique clock and watches. Some of them date back to the 18th century – one of them once owned by the fabulously wealthy Rothschild family at Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury. And last month he started work as one of only a handful of apprentice horologists in the entire country. “It’s a dream come true,” said Lewis, a former pupil at Bicester School, who numbers Oliver Cromwell among his distant ancestors.