Thomas Ambrose Gaunt was a foundational figure in Australia’s early horology, establishing a leading watchmaking and scientific instrument business in 19th-century Melbourne. His company, T. Gaunt & Co., became renowned for designing and installing major public clocks — including those at Flinders Street Station, the Melbourne General Post Office, and regional town halls — and for producing precision instruments that supported scientific and civic life in the rapidly growing colony.

James Oatley was the earliest documented clockmaker working in colonial Australia, practicing his trade in Sydney during the early nineteenth century when skilled mechanical artisans were extremely rare. A trained English watchmaker transported to New South Wales in 1814, Oatley produced and repaired clocks locally and is credited by Australian museums with making some of the earliest known clocks constructed in Australia. His surviving longcase clocks mark the true starting point of Australian horology.

Arthur Beverly was a Dunedin watchmaker, mathematician, and instrument-minded inventor whose work represents one of the most verifiable horological legacies in Oceania. Trained in the precision trades and deeply engaged with measurement, Beverly built the famed Beverly Clock in 1864 and exhibited it during the 1865 New Zealand Exhibition, earning lasting recognition for an “atmospheric” approach to powering a clock. Preserved by the University of Otago and reinforced by strong institutional biographies, Beverly’s story shows how Pacific timekeeping history often advanced through high-skill individuals whose clocks and instruments served both practical life and scientific culture.

Founded in Brisbane in 1971, ADINA Watches is one of the few Australian watch companies to operate continuously into the modern era. Rather than mass offshore production, ADINA has built its business around Australian-based assembly, quality control, and servicing, sourcing movements internationally while maintaining domestic technical capability. Its longevity makes it a rare and verifiable example of contemporary horology in the Pacific region.