Time is running out for antique clocks because of a dire shortage of experts who can repair them.

Clockmaking is on a “red list” of endangered crafts drawn up by the Heritage Crafts Association (HCA), which has warned that more specialists are retiring than entering the profession.

David Poole, a former master of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, which received its Royal Charter in 1631, told The Telegraph: “The shortage of clockmakers is a problem. Whereas there used to be clockmakers on the high street, a clock repair shop is a rare sight today.

“Waiting lists will just grow, and people will find it exceedingly difficult to identify anyone to repair their clock.”

There are only about 250 makers and repairers left across Britain, according to the HCA research. When specialists near retirement they often cannot afford to take on apprentices, as happened in the past, and it is feared the few training courses that have survived will not fill the gaps.

Howard Walwyn, a leading dealer in Kensington, west London, described the shortage as “a major problem” and said: “We are very short of really good people. Long delays in getting work done sympathetically to the right methods of horology is a problem. The historical knowledge goes.”

Mr Walwyn warned that, if expertise in repairing is lost, clocks will become “inanimate objects rather than living things”, adding: “Most clockmakers have fiddled around with clocks as kids, taking them apart, trying to get them to work. The problem is young kids now are spending all their time in front of screens. I’ve got some younger clockmakers, but they’re few and far between.”