clock-jobber

clock-jobber (plural clock-jobbers)

1. (obsolete) A person who repairs and maintains clocks.
   • 1881, Frederick James Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook, London: W. Kent & Co., 4th edition, p. 105,

     The escapement used in French Drum Clocks is a continual source of trouble to English clock jobbers.

   • 1888, The English Mechanic and World of Science, No. 1,199, 16 March, 1888, letter to the editor headed “Organ Matters,” signed Wm. Robinson, p. 59,

     I am pretty well aware of the number of bunglers, tinkers, and clock-jobbers that have crept into the trade—one of the latter, I am informed, became an organ-builder about five years ago, and by the help of a friendly organist got some work […]

   • 1897, H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapter 2,

     At four o’clock, when it was fairly dark and Mrs. Hall was screwing up her courage to go in and ask her visitor if he would take some tea, Teddy Henfrey, the clock-jobber, came into the bar.

   • 1936, R. Austin Freeman, The Penrose Mystery, Chapter 19,

     I've got a fine old bracket clock—belonged to my grandfather; made for him by Earnshaw, and I set considerable store by it. Now, something has gone wrong with its strike and I don't like to trust it to a common clock-jobber.

• horologist