Many people have a prized grandfather clock standing in the corner of the hall or a beloved cuckoo clock on the wall – but that’s not enough for Robert Sadler.

His Walsall Wood house is filled with the ticking and chiming from the 30 clocks he has collected over the last 50 years.

The former Sandwell teacher has spent his retirement learning how to fix old-fashioned mechanical clocks and admits that he has kept a lot of the time-pieces that were salvaged from junk shops.

He has become such an expert that he has been called in to repair clocks around Walsall town including one on Bradford Street. Robert has also travelled the country with his talk Precision Pendulums and Electricity, lecturing to students.

He says from a young age he was interested in the mechanics of clocks but started doing more work on them when he retired.

He says: “The theory behind clock repairing is all in books so as time went on I became more proficient.

“However, for the practical experience you need to work on clocks and it wasn’t long before I was repairing ones for friends.

“I have a number of 400-day clocks, which were designed to last a whole year before they needed winding, but they are usually not very accurate.

“I also have a cuckoo clock, which I put together in 1965 from a kit.”

Bachelor Robert, who is in his 60s, has a workshop at his home on Lichfield Road where he repairs and makes parts for clocks.

“One of my favourite clocks is called a dead beat escapement, which is quite accurate and I found it in a junk shop and thought I couldn’t miss out on having it,” he says. “I’ve restored hundreds of clocks and I keep a note of everyone I see so if someone comes back I can see what the problem was with their clock the last time I saw it.

“Clock repairers can often charge more than the clock is worth but I don’t make money out of it because it is just a hobby.”

Robert says he has to be careful as there is a lot of power in the springs. However, he says they are not as dangerous as some public clocks.

“It is only when you are looking for clocks that the public ones stand out – and it is amazing what you can see in the way of neglect,” he says.

Robert says he enjoys looking at clocks that have a lot of historic interest – including the one at Westminster.

But don’t speak to Robert about digital clocks. “I don’t think they have any soul and when they fail they just hit the waste bin – in fact some clocks are made so they can’t be repaired. It is a shame we are a throw-away society because there isn’t much need for us clock repairers anymore.”