Lane is named in time

Horologist Phil Gore said the number of people taking up the

By Casey Neill
JUST what is a horologist?
That’s the question Ferntree Gully Watch and Clock Company’s Phil Gore is hoping people will ask as they pass Knox’s newly named Horologist Lane.
From 1 July the laneway adjoining 117-119 Station Street, Ferntree Gully, will be known by the unusual name.
Mr Gore is a maintainer and repairer of antique timepieces – or a horologist.
His business has been located on the corner of Station Street and the previously unnamed alley since 1983.
Knox councillors officially approved the naming at their 25 March meeting.
Dobson Ward councillor Karin Orpen said it was a quirky name.
“We’re so proud to have a horologist in the Gully,” Cr Orpen said.
“He is so unique.”
Mr Gore said he was “stoked” with the decision.
“It’s not every day that you get a laneway named after your profession,” he said.
He hopes the name will encourage more people to enter the profession.
“The one thing about my profession is we’re a very, very small field and we’re getting smaller and smaller and smaller every day,” he said.
“Maybe something like this that really brings it out into the forefront will maybe encourage people to come into the trade.”
Aged in his mid-50s, Mr Gore said he is one of the youngest in his trade.
“And there’s not many coming through,” he said.
Mr Gore’s career started off as a hobby.
A tool maker by trade, he began tinkering with watches and clocks at home.
“Then I basically grew to love what I do,” he said. “You’ve got to have a passion for this business.”
Mr Gore repairs and restores time pieces ranging in size from wrist watches to full sized grandfather clocks.
He has worked as an official consultant for Sotheby’s and Leonard Joel auction houses for the past 10 years.
The nearest horologist to Mr Gore is in Canterbury.
He also has a steady stream of repair work from overseas.
“I get repairs from the UK, Europe, America, Hong Kong, Singapore all the time,” he said.
A name was needed after a three unit development was approved in the laneway.
Other suggested names included Watch Gully Lane, submitted by Mr Gore, and McFeeters Lane, after Andrew Wilson McFeeters.
Mr McFeeters planted a pine tree on the corner of Alpine and Station Streets alongside the railway line that became an icon to the village traders and shoppers.
Owners and occupiers of properties around the laneway and the Knox Historical Society were contacted for their opinion on the naming.