Horologist Graham Mulligan details the history of clocks in Tasmania

Established by Mr Mulligan and his wife Sallie in Launceston on the 14th of December 1992, Clockwise has been a long-standing member of the Tasmanian business community for 30 years.

Clockwise is a Launceston-based establishment that specialises in the art of time.

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As part of Clockwise's 30th birthday this year, Hands of Time is being released as a free web directory fulfilling Graham's dream of wanting to provide this information back to the community.

The project compiles detailed historical information of over 600 Tasmanian clock and watchmakers. Information has been sourced over 30 years from books, industry journals and directories, websites, newspapers, Clockwise archives, Tasmanian Archives, Founders and Survivors project, Watch and Clockmakers of Australia, descendants, and business contacts.

Included in the project are some associated trades and retailers, convicts who identified as clock and watchmakers but did not necessarily work in their field in Tasmania, and widows who continued running family businesses.

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Hands of Time is the most extensive resource publicly available on the history of clock and watchmakers in Tasmania.

"Over the last 30 years I have been accumulating information to do with Tasmanian watch and clock makers," Mr Mulligan said.

"Because I am repairing watches and clocks all the time and I see certain signatures or markings on clock dials and I wondered about the repairers who repaired the pieces in the past.

"I thought it would be good to have a database about the history of horology in Tasmania. Every time I cam across an item I photographed or recorded the maker."

In addition to repairs and sales of timepieces, Clockwise has a long history of restoring antique clocks and watches from around the world and has been trusted with maintaining the historic town clock in Launceston for more than 10 years.

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"I use the traditional tools and techniques the same way that those before me would have done," Mr Mulligan said.

During this time, the team spent countless hours researching and collating information for this project.

Mr Mulligan said it was important to have access to this information all in one place.

"It's important from a historical point of view that we know who our first watchmakers are and we know where they worked and when they were born and died," he said.

"They were the forefathers of Tasmania watches and clocks."

Hands of Time is a free directory fulfilling Mr Mulligan's dream of providing this information to the community.

To access visit handsoftime.com.au

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