Wanting to continue this study as his main thesis project, Andrewes wrote to Colonel Humphrey Quill, the leading authority on Harrison’s life and work, who also served as the curator of the collection of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. Among the many treasures in this collection was an unfinished wooden regulator started by John Harrison. After several meetings, Quill asked Andrewes if he would be interested in working under the guidance of George Daniels to complete the clock that Harrison had never finished and took him to meet the master. George Daniels set before Andrewes a test of making the escape wheel arbor, and, when satisfied with the result, he agreed to take Andrewes under his wing.

For two years, Andrewes spent every Thursday with Daniels in his workshop, sometimes staying for dinner and even overnight when working late. One Thursday in August 1971, when his wife and daughter were away, Daniels looked up from his workbench, spun around on his stool, and, holding out a £20 note, asked Andrewes to go buy a bottle of whiskey and some fish and chips for a late night dinner – they polished off that bottle of whiskey while discussing the restoration project and the world of horology.