Antonio J. Sandoval is
I started working as an apprentice watchmaker in the family business when I was 13. By the age of 14 I was already doing jobs for the Madrid flea market, El Rastro, for pocket watch traders. At 15 I bought my first watchmaker’s lathe and started working for Relojería Collar, on Calle Embajadores. I continued to gain experience with pocket watches, and did simple repairs on broken watches for various professionals in Madrid.
My work for Juan Tolinos and at Tabacalera
When I was 18 I started doing jobs for Juan Tolinos, one of the most important antiquarians in Spain, and the owner of a great collection of clocks and watches.
I started working as a conservator for the antique table and wall clock collection at Tabacalera, and I stayed there over 10 years.
From Spain to the UK…,
and back!
At the age of 28 I went to work as a master watchmaker for antique pocket watches, at the well-known clockmaker’s, Madrid Arte de Reloxes, run by Juan José Ontalva, on the Plaza de Santa Ana. That relationship lasted almost three years, and then I went back to being self-employed and working for professionals.
During this time I concentrated on increasing my knowledge and skills with automatons, singing bird boxes, automaton cages and highly complex mechanisms; and on improving my micro-mechanical lab or workshop until I went off to work in the United Kingdom in 2011. When I returned to Spain in 2013, I set up my workshop again in Madrid. Now I work for various professional antiquarians and specialists, mainly in London and Madrid.
El Cronometrista today
The workshop and the tools have changed over the years and are constantly being upgraded. Today I can make any part and repair any problem or broken part in any kind of mechanism.
I treasure my 35 years of experience repairing, restoring and reconstructing antique mechanisms and watches.
Lastly, I am a certified legal expert in business investigation and clock and watch expert no. 651.