“Growing up, I was intrigued by mechanisms and just had a natural aptitude for it,” he says. Clocks are the only machines that are still running after 400 years.”īates’ son Richard has now joined the family business in Newfane, Vermont.Īlways mechanically inclined, Bates was steeped in antique watch and clock repair work as a teenager, when he embarked on an intensive five-year apprenticeship in Edinburgh. New parts are made in house, a time-consuming task to blend the new with the old. Much of what they repair dates back 200 years, though it’s not unusual for them to get their hands on something from the 17th century.īates’ restoration pays careful attention to the original craftsmanship. Nothing that enters their shop, in other words, is mass-produced. “They’re the best quality, and I never liked working on trash,” he says matter-of-factly. In 1964, after a stint teaching high-school English, Ray and his wife, Beverly, moved to Newfane, where he opened his shop two years later.Īs he always has, Bates, who now works with son Richard, takes on only pre-Industrial Revolution timepieces. Better job prospects brought him to the United States in 1957, and an American bride convinced him to stay. Born and raised in Scotland, he first began repair work at the age of 16. You could imagine taking a good nap here, at least for 15 minutes.īates has a long history with clocks and watches. Some stand floor to ceiling many others cover the walls a few more take over a mantle. Then there are the stars of the space: big clocks, small clocks, clocks that chime, clocks that simply go tick-tock. Tools and papers pervade–some of the materials organized, some of them much less so. Classical music drifts through his two main workrooms, a homey area just off his 200-year-old house in downtown Newfane, Vermont. Ray Bates’ workshop offers the kind of peaceful setting you’d expect from a clockmaker. Ray Bates sports a loupe to better view the inner working of the pre-industrial clocks that he repairs.

Ray bates clockmaker