Horology Meetings & Lectures

2024 "Save the Dates"

February 12-17, Mid-Winter Regional Meeting - St. Augustine, Florida

Mid-Winter Regional Information: floridaregional.net 


Presentation: A gold pocket watch by George Graham (c.1673-1751) 

Speaker: Rory McEvoy


NAWCC Executive Director Rory McEvoy has graciously agreed to join us after the Board Meeting to discuss an important  gold pocket watch by George Graham (c.1673-1751). The study of a timepiece by this celebrated London maker, found in an NAWCC mart last year, will explore some of the watch’s technical details and establish their context in early 18th-century watchmaking and the scientific life of its maker.  Rory McEvoy has been  hands-on and researching horology for over 25-years, working with private and public collections of fine watches, clocks, and scientific instruments.  


April 11-13, Southern Ohio Regional Meeting - Wilmington, Ohio


Presentation:  Introducing revolutionary-era maker Richard Cranch 

Speaker: Andy Dervan


Richard Cranch of Boston was an unknown colonial maker until historian Robert Mussey began researching his contributions 20+ years ago and discovered his daybook. This presentation introduces Cranch and a treasure trove of horological information about the trade in 18th century America to the horological community for the first time.  


Star Fellow Andy Dervan has been collecting 19th and 20th century weight driven clocks for nearly 30 years and is well-known for his contributions to the horological community as an author (NAWCC Bulletin, ACWM Timepiece Journal, Clocks Magazine), lecturer, and researcher.  Dervan was awarded the prestigious James W. Gibbs Literary Award in 2016, and most recently was approached by the NAWCC to analyze the Cranch materials when Robert Mussey conveyed his research to the Fortunat Mueller-Maerki Library & Research Center in 2021.


June 13-16, NAWCC National Convention – Chattanooga, Tennessee 


Presentation: Watch Jewel making in nineteenth century England (with an American connection)

Speaker: Dr. Ian Greaves


Description: Jewel hole making was developed in England, and over the course of the eighteenth century these became essential parts in better watches, and in the nineteenth century, the number of jewels became one of the measures of the quality of a watch. Making jewel holes by hand from hard gemstones was and is difficult, and familiar to many ’the secret of watch jewelling’ was held close within the English trade for a very long time. This presentation explores the world of small workshops in the English Midlands town of Coventry where many hundreds of thousands of jewels were made each year, and discusses the lives of the people, the methods of making and fitting to watches, and the sale of jewels.


Dr. Greaves is an engineer, materials scientist and safety consultant who began in horology about thirty years ago, becoming a collector, restorer and historian. He has a particular interest in ‘hand’ watchmaking, and is writing a history of jewelling. Dr. Greaves is a member of the AHS, NAWCC and a Liveryman WCC.


Last On-line Presentation

Engraving on English Table Clocks:  Art On A Canvas OF Brass, by the renowned author and lecturer Sunny Dzik.


Lecture Description

Engraving on English Table Clocks:  Art on a canvas of brass

In this presentation, Sunny Dzik will provide a survey of the decorative line engraving found on the backplates of English table clocks over the course of the 18th century. Hand engraving was a well-established method of decoration and relies on a simple hand tool, called a burin.  A video demonstration of the technique will be provided in the lecture. Expert hand engraving demonstrates several technical features including shading techniques and depth of field. The patterns of hand engraving over the course of the 18th century directly mirror major changes in decorative tastes including baroque imagery, rococo styles, and neoclassicism.  These engraving designs help to date the period when clocks were produced and place them in the context of other decorative arts of the period.  By the close of the 18th century, talent in decorative engraving remained high, but tastes had changed and line engraving on backplates came to an end.  The lecture presents numerous images available to all at: www.englishtableclocks.org

 

 

About the Presenter

Attracted by the fusion of art and science found in 17th and 18th century horology, Sunny Dzik has been a student and collector of English table clocks for over two decades. His study of English clocks has been inspired and enriched through contact with leading experts in British horology.

 

Sunny graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Romance Languages and Literature and received his medical doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He trained in Internal Medicine and Hematology at Boston University Medical Center and did fellowship training in Transfusion Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Sunny has over 35 years of clinical care experience in transfusion practice and hematology. 

 

He is currently an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School serving as a consulting hematologist and specialist in transfusion medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and as the Editor of Transfusion Medicine Reviews. His medical research has included efforts to improve transfusion therapy for children with malaria in Uganda. Internationally known as a lecturer and teacher, Sunny is a recipient of the James Blundell Award in England and the Emily Cooley and the Tibor Greenwalt Awards in the USA. 

 

Sunny is the author of two books on English table clocks: Engraving on English Table Clocks: Art on a canvas of brass, 1660-1800 and Beneath the Dial: English clock pull repeat striking, 1675-1725. He maintains a digital library of over 1,500 English table clock images at www.englishtableclocks.org.

Prior Lectures & Meetings


February 16-18, 2023, Mid-Winter Regional Meeting - St. Augustine, Florida

Show and Tell. Please bring your new acquisitions or horological treasures to share what you know and ask questions to expand your knowledge. 


April 13-15, 2023 Southern Ohio Regional Meeting - Wilmington, Ohio

The Greenwich Observatory Clock that Changed Time Throughout the World and its Forgotten Creator. In the middle of the 19th Century, George Airy, the Astronomer Royal, saw the need to have a method of transmitting Greenwich Mean Time to various places in the U.K.  To this end he acquired a regulator clock for the Royal Observatory at Greenwich which not only would be the basis of timekeeping there but would be capable of transmitting the time instantaneously to any part of the Country as well as other places in the world.  This timekeeper would be the primary source of Greenwich Mean Time for 70 years.  Arguably, it was this clock that through the distribution of GMT caused GMT to be the de facto basis for timekeeping throughout the world. The story of this remarkable clock and its maker will be the subject of the presentation.

About the Presenter: Bob Pritzker has been a member of the NAWCC for 25 years.  He is a member of several Chapters and is a Past President of the British Horological Chapter (#159).  His interests in clocks and watches is quite varied.  Bob has enjoyed visiting many horological museums throughout the world and learning the stories of time and timekeepers. Repairing and reconstructing clocks is another way Bob enjoys horology.

July 13-16, 2023, The 80th Anniversary National Convention – Lancaster, PA & at the museum

The London Horological Engine Turners.

In 19th century London, the making of a watch required the work of many individuals, each practicing their own specialism. This presentation will discuss the engine turners of Clerkenwell and the links between their work and the watch case and dial making trades. Who were the engine turners, where did they come from and what machinery did they use? Where did they acquire their unique skills and, as the London horological trade declined, what happened to these workers and businesses?


About the Presenter: 

Seth Kennedy is a professional antiquarian horologist with over 20 years’ experience, based in London, England.  He repairs and restores antique pocket watches, both the movements and the cases.  Alongside this work he also makes complete pocket watch cases in silver or gold using mostly traditional methods.  These cases are each made individually to re-home antique movements in a period appropriate fashion.


The Convention has about 25 lectures and workshops and many will be of interest to scholars and collectors including a talk by Keith Scoby-Youngs at the Convention Banquet (registration required) on the conservation of the Westminster great clock, Big Ben. Your BH Chapter is helping to sponsor this and other educational events at the National Convention. 


February 18 – 19, 2022, Mid-Winter Regional - Lakeland, Florida

Philadelphia maker Robert Leslie by Rich Newman. Leslie  was in the forefront of invention and innovation of clock and watchmaking in the 18th century and was awarded the first clock and watch patents in America.  This updated presentation includes newly discovered watches and clocks from the 1790s including a chronometer and an amazing one-wheel clock made for President George Washington.  Newman, NAWCC Fellow & Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors, has lectured at The Ward Francillon Time Symposium, National Conventions and Regional events, and has written over 20 articles on both clocks & watches for the Bulletin and other publications. He additionally hosts a website on colonial and early American watchmakers, www.colonialwatches.com to promote research and education.


April 7 – 9, 2022, Southern Ohio Regional - Wilmington, Ohio

Show & Tell; Presentation of watches in the upcoming exhibit at the National Convention, including several renaissance-era watches and alarms. 


June 23-26, 2022, NAWCC Annual Convention - Dayton, Ohio. 

Early Case Making; The Art of the Silversmith by Ken Rockwell.  Although a vast number of pocket watch cases were handmade in the 18th century, the craft is almost lost today. Insights, techniques, and tools for fabricating a case for an important 18th-century Thomas Tompion pocket watch movement will be discussed. Ken Rockwell is the 2013 NAWCC Pritchard Award Winner. He is also an accomplished gold and silversmith and has restored hundreds of antique watches. He has a BS from Southern Illinois University, an MS and a Master of Fine Arts from Florida State University.