As the seconds tick by on an old grandfather clock, time practically stands still for David Beckner, as he meticulously works on his newest creation.
Since the late 1980’s, Beckner has been a watchmaker by trade. He owns and operates Bridgetown Watch & Clock Repair on Granville Street since 2001, but recently started using his steady hand at something else.
Beckner now creates miniature motorcycles known as TimeCycle Originals.
“It’s art. It’s completely different. Using a different part of the brain entirely to have the imagination to make this,” he said.
Each piece is an original and comprised of 75 to 100 tiny pieces, all of which come from old, broken watches.
“Each one is a challenge. It’s almost like writers block. You give somebody a blank sheet of paper – now write a story. Some people would be writing and other people would be staring at it two weeks later.”
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Beckner gets a lot of his inspiration for his pieces from the community. He says he tries to make each TimeCycle unique and stand out.
“That’s what art is. You’re sort of trying to make the art pop, because you don’t want to make it look like wallpaper. You want people to go ‘Wow, that’s really cool,'” he told Global News.
Beckner says patience is critical when creating the models, since it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for Beckner to fully finish one piece.
But no matter how intricate the pieces appear, a true artist is always their worst critic.
“I’ve looked at it so much it’s still not perfect. I see lots of flaws in it, but anybody that’s an artist sees lots of flaws.”
Since 2010, Beckner has made 29 TimeCycles creations and has no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
You can view some of Beckner’s work, purchase calendars or commission him for a piece by visiting his website.
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