WHITE Thomas Peter

Tom, his wife, and three young children were living in Maitland Street by now, and he had changed employment from Jacksons and was working full time with Braemar Engineering in Wellington Street. The period was the late 1940s and early 1950s when many people were still walking or cycling to work. Maitland Street was relatively close to Patons and Baldwins Woollen Mill, where many mill workers walked past Tom’s house to and from work. The word got around that he was a watch repairer and his little sideline started to grow month by month.

So, Tom, this self-taught watch repairer, thought there was enough work to take on full time watch work and left Braemar to work from home at his beloved bench. As his small business grew and he earned an assured income, he purchased more specialized equipment and tools to carry out more complex and tricky repairs. Tom was approached by two jewellery shops asking him if he would be prepared to take on some of their watch repairs on a casual basis. He accepted their offer, and in the beginning, there was not a great deal of work from them, but over some time, the number of repairs increased significantly. The jewellers were F W Bearup and Son, Charles Street, and H Wathen and Son, Charles Street, next to Fitzpatrick’s Pharmacy on the corner of Elizabeth Street.

Around 1960, Tom asked a neighbor in Maitland Street named Vern Denholm, a brilliant cabinetmaker and restorer of antique furniture, to build a replica cutler roll top desk for his watch repairs. It was a great improvement as a workstation as it had so many compartments and drawers to place all the necessary tools and parts required for the job. Vern Denholm was also a self-taught craftsman who worked in the basement of his home at Maitland Street and did many antique furniture restorations for the late Dr. Clifford Craig, who used to buy at auctions.

Tom continued to work from home until Milton (Mit) Wathen asked him to move to H. Wathen & Son and work full time in a room above the shop. Tom then set up his workshop there and continued until retiring around 1978.

In 1966, the Horological Guild of Australia accepted Tom as a Fellow in recognition of his service to the industry. He achieved this by undertaking numerous theoretical and practical tests set by the Guild of Watchmakers in Sydney. He proudly displayed the framed certificate above his workbench.Even in retirement, Tom was still approached by many of his old friends and past customers to repair their watches but would only take on easier repairs.

Tom spent his latter years at Fred French Nursing Home and passed away on 18 September 1996, aged 84 years.