2018 Midwest One Day Watch and Clock Mart

9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Sponsored by The Midwest Regional

The one day mart will be held at:
The Forest Hills Lodge, Banquet and Convention Center.
1601 West Lane Rd. Loves Park, IL 61111

Sunday, August 12, 2018

No Pre-registration
Admission:   NAWCC Members:…No Charge
Non-Members:………..…$5
Tables (NAWCC Members only)….$10
Mart Setup: 8:30 a.m.
Mart Open: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Directions: Take I-39 Exit 8 – IL 173/West Lane Road; proceed west 2.7 miles, Lodge is on the left in front of the Rockford Speedway.

May’s Program  will be the “History of Electric Clocks” by Mike Demsey

Show and Tell: Bring your Favorite Electric Clock

The March meeting started out with a sad note of Jack Heisler passing away in February.
He will be greatly missed for all his shared knowledge and teaching. He also helped in many roles in our chapter. He will be greatly missed. Thanks also to a generous donation from the Don Brown family in remembrance of Jack.
I also would like to inform you that David Lee, a longtime member of our chapter was recently recognized as a fellow in the NAWCC for all the work he has done for our organization. David is currently serving in his 7th year as a national board member. David, thank you for all the work you do to help out chapter as well.

The March presentation was given by Craig White showing how lead weights are cast. It was discussed that a small addition of antimony (5%) to lead greatly improved the ability to make the casting without large shrinkage holes in the center. The alloy addition of antimony allows for approximately a 50°F window of solidification. Instead of solidifying at 621°F which pure lead does, a lead-antimony alloy starts to solidify at 552°F and does not completely go to the solid phase until 495°F. This approximately 50F° transition is often called the mushy phase. In the case of casting the lead weights this was the difference between a large center shrink hole or no shrink hole.
Next casting challenge for me is casting brass. I am sure there will be some more humorous lessons along the way in learning this process. Hopefully next year I will have a success story about casting brass. If so there will be a new PowerPoint presentation.

We had some great activity at the silent auction table where a number of items changed hands. Bring something to sell and/or be sure to check it out at next meeting.

Educational programs planned for 2018:
May: Mike Dempsey will give talk on the history of electric clocks
September: Mike Dempsey will give talk on electric clock repair
November: Craig White will discuss a James Ferguson inspired Astronomical Clock.

We will have a board meeting after the May general meeting, so I appreciate it if all
board members and officers would attend this meeting. .

Thank you,
Craig White

The Mart is March 18th at 9:00am.
It will be held at the The Knights of Columbus, 1800 South 92nd Street, West Allis, WI 53214

Educational Lecture: Craig White will discuss casting lead weights.

Thanks to Brad Smith for his presentation on Jefferson Electric Mystery Clocks. The company was founded in 1915 in Chicago IL and named after Thomas Jefferson.  They made transformers, ignition coils, fuses and lamp ballasts until after WWII.

In the late 1940’s, the company’s president and his wife were vacationing in Holland.  She saw an interesting clock in a shop window and her husband bought it and brought the “Dutch Secret” home to the US.  He purchased the Dutch patent and tooled up to manufacture the “Golden Hours” clock.

The Gold Hours were made for over 40 years and 2 million were sold. The clock division was closed in 1992 and sold to Timesavers, in Scottsdale, AZ.  Parts and instructions are still available as these clocks have a “cult” following.

In 1966, Jefferson Electric moved to Franklin, WI where today they make dry transformers.  Not a single clock of this type is in the facility.

Other models produced are, Golden Helm, Golden Minute, Golden View, Golden Secret and Suspense.

We had some activity at the silent auction table where a few items changed hands.  This will be continued at the next meeting.  Look close at the silent auction in March as there will be an item specially priced.

I have not heard any feedback about having a repair clinic.  Let me know if you are interested.

Educational programs planned for 2018:

March: Craig White will discuss casting lead weights

May: Mike Dempsey will give talk on making a die filing attachment for Shirline lathes.

September: Mike Dempsey will give talk on electric clock repair

November: Craig White will discuss his James Ferguson Inspired Astronomical Clock.

Thank you,

Craig White

I hope everyone enjoyed the new location, it is: Knights of Columbus, 1800 South 92nd Street, West Allis, WI 53214. Everything went well and I heard the coffee was good.

Thanks to Robert Olney for his talk at the September meeting. His talk was on World War II ships clocks. He discussed that most of the ships clocks for the US were made by two different manufactures, Chelsea and Seth Thomas. While the clocks are similar there are many variances between the manufactures. Robert brought along many examples for us to see. Thanks for enlightening us about these clocks.

Brad Smith is going to do a presentation at the November 19 meeting on the Rolling Ball Clock he built.

We need presentations for upcoming meetings. If you have any suggestions or would like to do a presentation please contact Harry Schulz.

We will be having a board meeting after the presentation to discuss future chapter ideas. Please pass along any ideas you may have to me or any officers or board members.

Thank you,
Craig White

Novembers Show and Tell—Bring a novelty timepiece.

Please note, our new location is: Knights of Columbus, 1800 South 92nd Street, West Allis, WI 53214. There is ample parking in their lot. The hall is very similar in amenities. Come join us for the September meeting and see our new location. Also note the dates have already been assigned for 2018, and November 2017’s meeting has a new date, see Events Page.

Robert Olney is going to do a presentation at the September 24th meeting on collecting American Military Clocks of WWII.

Brad Smith is going to do a presentation at the November 19th meeting on the Rolling Ball Clock he built.

Joint Chapter Meeting

NAWCC Chapters 3 and 47

VFW Post 4551  |  75 North Ave, Antioch IL

Come Join us for our

Annual Joint Chapter Meeting

• Free Admission to NAWCC members.
• Open to the public, $5.00 admission.
• $5.00 mart tables, NAWCC members.
• No preregistration, first come first serve.

This meeting is to recruit new members to the NAWCC, and the host chapters. Please bring your friends.

Contact: David Lee ♦ davidlee@theclockworks.com

• We reserve the right to limit the number of tables per attendee.

This month’s educational speaker will be Jack Heisler.  The title of his talk is: Chronometers, and where the hell are we. Jack is a past president of chapter 47 and also held most of the offices at the time.  He has been an instructor in Waukesha Technical College, as well as a field suit case instructor for the NAWCC.  This is sure to be a very informative talk.

Bring your chronometers to show the group and here what Jack has to say about them.  Or stand up and tell us what you know about the time keeper

The Meeting will be at the Norway House, 7507 W Oklahoma Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53219. Table setup starts at 8:00, meeting starts at 9:00, lecture starts at 10:00.

John Flahive will give a program entitled “South Bend Watch Company”

Doors open at 8:00, Educational program starts at 10:00

Hope to see you there.