Miles, Robert

• Miles, Bob
• Miles, Robert H. A.
• Miles, Robert Henry Astin

Robert Henry Astin Miles (1926–2019), known as Bob Miles, is best known as a founder member of the AHS Electrical Horology Group in 1970, and as the author of the definitive work Synchronome: Masters of Electrical Timekeeping (2011, 2nd edition 2019).

Born in Hertfordshire and educated at Cambridge and London Universities, Bob Miles worked for almost forty years on the development, measurement and production techniques of quartz crystals used in communications. He first became interested in horology in the early fifties and joined the Antiquarian Horological Society in 1955, soon becoming the photographer of its social events, especially the early foreign trips, and its press officer. Later, in 1988, Bob became the first Chairman of its East Anglian Section, and then its Secretary.

He translated two important horological resources into English: the Bulle Practical Manual and a collection of Brillié catalogues and manuals. His interest in pocket watches was soon supplanted by that in electrical horology, leading to the formation of the Electrical Horology Group, and eventually, to the publication of his seminal work on the Synchronome company.

In 2005, Bob entered into a civil partnership with his long-term partner Frank. In 1972 he was a co-founder of the Cambridge Group for Homosexual Equality, a cause close to his heart.

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For an obituary of Bob Miles by James Nye, see Antiquarian Horology, vol. 40 no. 2 (June 2019), pp. 174-75.

Image courtesy of Frank Ellis.