New Location:  American Legion Post 434
9327 S. Shepard Ave, Oak Creek, WI 53154.
New Start Time: Doors open at 9:00 am for setup

Presidents Message

We voted to change our meeting place to American Legion Post 434 in Oak Creek. We will be paying $50 per meeting versus $300 at the Knights of Columbus in South Milwaukee.  Our finances will be much improved.  Next year we will review our dues and admission fees to cover our costs. The new place will require us to do some setup and take down.  We will need some help setting up and taking down.  So please arrive at 9:00 and help setup and plan to stay after the educational talk to help us with the take down to return the room to the condition we found it in.

Doors open at 9:00 for setup.  Educational talk at 11:00.  Cleanup at 12:00.

We also need a new secretary.  The main job is just to put this news letter together.  Please offer to help so no one is overburdened.

In January I gave a presentation on “Restoring a French Lantern Clock by LeBel of Orbec Normandy.” Designing and replacing missing side and back doors by cutting out a complicated shape was shown first using aluminum and paper to get the shape right. Then this shape was transferred to brass and cut out with jewelry’s saw and files.  

Sand casting and machining missing side frets were shown.  Custom screws to the original diameter and thread count were made using a Shirleline lathe and mill.  Making a wooden bracket to hold the clock to the wall was also shown.

Mark Frank will be giving a talk about his amazing Astronomical clock at the February Meeting. 

Born of a happy convergence of artist and artisan, exuberant creativity, and exquisite craftsmanship, this machine is a work of art in which mechanics, visual fantasy, and fun converge. It is where John Harrison meets Rube Goldberg and is based upon the achievements of the past masters of horology, from Harrison to Tompion, Breguet, Hahn, Janvier and Fasoldt just to name a few, not to mention a few unique designs we invented along the way. The project took twelve years to produce, and has 71 complications. There about 8000 parts; 480 wheels and is one of the most complex skeleton clocks ever made.

This is one show not to miss!

Additional talks planned for 2023 are as follows:

• February 26 – Mark Frank will give a presentation on his recently completed astronomical clock.
• May 21 – Mike Dempsey will be presenting using a CNC mill
• September 17– Danno will make a presentation on Renaissance and other clocks at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

We still need volunteers for talks and/or demonstration for one more event for 2023.  Please contact Harry Schultz or myself with ideas or suggestions.

Free tables!!  A free silent auction table will also be available.

Hope to see you all there.
Thanks,
Craig White

Directions to the New Oak Creek Location:    
Exit I-94 at Ryan Rd, then head East for 1.7 miles on Ryan Rd, then turn Left (North) on Shepard Ave, Drive 4/10 of a mile, the Legion Post will be on the left.
9327 S. Shepard Ave, Oak Creek, WI 53154.

Presidents Message
I will be presenting an option for a new meeting place.  This candidate venue has a much lower rental rate.  It offers an opportunity to keep our costs in line with our current membership levels.  Be prepared to view the presentation and discuss.  The membership will then vote on if we want to move forward with this new meeting place.  Come and participate in the discussion.

The educational talk for November was given by Bill Galinski.  He showed some photos and videos of cutting out the raw material for hands from cow bone.  He freezes the bone first and then cuts slices on a band saw.  The bone is then dried on cardboard for approximately 1 month flipped over every day to equalize the drying. 

He demonstrated copying hands by tracing the outline with a sharpie.  Then holes are drilled for attachment to center arm and for easier access for the jewelers saw.  A jeweler’s saw  with wire blade is used to cut out the bone.  Then the bone is filed to final shape.  Cutting on bone does release some odors reminding us that the raw material came from a living animal.   Attendees were allowed and encouraged to try their hand at cutting out a hand and some of us gave it a go.

At our next meetings the presentation will be “Restoring a French Lantern Clock by LeBel of Orbec Normandy” by Craig White.  Replacing missing side and back doors will be shown.  Also casting and machining missing side frets and making custom screws.  All this and more will be shown in a PowerPoint presentation. 

Additional talks planned for 2023 are as follows:

• February 26 – Mark Frank will give a presentation on his recently completed astronomical clock.
• May 21 – Mike Dempsey will be presenting using a CNC mill
• September 17– Danno will make a presentation on Renaissance and other clocks at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

We still need volunteers for talks and/or demonstration for one more event for 2023.  Please contact Harry Schultz or myself with ideas or suggestions. 

Free tables!!  A free silent auction table will also be available.

Hope to see you all there. 
Thanks,
Craig

We are looking for a volunteer to help out the club.
We are looking for someone to take over the position of Secretary.  The duties involve putting together the newsletter and taking notes at board meetings.   The newsletter involves putting together the presidents message, treasurer’s report, taking photos at the mart and writing some sort of interest piece to fill out the newsletter.

May 2022 Presidents Message,

COVID seems to be subsiding and mask guidance from the CDC have been reduced.  Masks will not be required for those of us that are fully vaccinated and boosted.  Please continue to be considerate of others and wear a mask covering your nose and mouth if you have not received all your vaccinations.  Thank you for your help in this.

I hope you all are practicing your new miner’s techniques when out at mart tables looking for great horological finds.  Thanks Mike for your talk on “Digging for Gold”.  We all learned some tips and tricks on what to look for in and out of a mart room.  You need to look at things others are not looking for.  Grow by looking for things you are not used to be looking for.  Learn by asking and reading.  The emphasis was on watches from the 1600’s until the 1950’s that most of us have never seen before. 

The educational talk for September will be by Craig White.  I will be showing the restoration of an Illuminated Alarm Clock.  I will show how the clock wakes you up with clanging on a bell and lighting an alcohol lamp.  Goal of coarse was also to not burn ones house down in the process.  As always there were some lessons to be learned to get the mechanism to work properly.

We still need volunteers for a talk and/or demonstration for 2023.  Please contact Harry Schultz or myself with ideas or suggestions.  

Free tables!!  A free silent auction table will also be available.

The November Educational talk will be by Bill Galinsky.  Bill will be demonstrating carving Cuckoo clock hands.

Chapter 47 is in charge this year of the 2022 Midwest Watch and Clock Mart in Antioch IL.  I need a few volunteers to help with checking in non-members and table holders.  Please let me know if you can help me out on Saturday October 1st.  Send me an email at cswhite5@yahoo.com or call at (414)712-0129 if you can help.

Hope to see you all there. 
Thanks,
Craig

Presidents Message

The September educational talk was given by myself. Pictures and videos of clocks were shown from the Beyer Clock museum in Zurich Switzerland. I had the opportunity to visit this museum after the NAWCC travel chapter visit in 2018 to Amsterdam and a trip down the Rhine River.

The Beyer Clock and Watch Museum is housed in Zurich’s heart of the city, in the premises of the Beyer watch store. The exhibition comprises some 250 pieces from all fields of horology, which are examined in technical and scientific terms as well as from an art-history point of view. The museum is home to one of the most important horological collections in the world. It recounts the complete history of timekeeping from 1400 BC to the present day.

The exhibition comprises rare and precious exhibits such as shadow sticks, sun-dials, oil-lamp clocks, hourglasses, water clocks, grandfather clocks, table clocks, pocket watches, wristwatches and scientific instruments for timekeeping and marine navigation. Historical masterpieces that are rarely set running because of their fragile mechanics come to life in enthralling video clips. The exhibition is constantly being expanded and is widely regarded as one of the most important horological collections in the world.

Bruce Shawkey will give a talk titled Golden Age of the Swiss Wristwatch at the November meeting, from his latest book about all the wild and wacky brands that came out of the post-WWII consumer boom. Bruce delves into some of the most beautiful wristwatch advertisements to ever come out of Switzerland, lush Swiss ads that are incredible in their detail of actual watches being produced shortly after WWII. They represent a rich playground in which the collector of modest means may frolic. Bruce has been collecting vintage wristwatches since 1986. He began writing about watches in 1993 with his own newsletter, Vintage Wristwatch Report, and was the wristwatch columnist for the Watch & Clock Bulletin. He has written and published several books on vintage wristwatches.

Educational Talks Planned for 2020
January – Rich Newman (NAWCC Board Chair) – Watch Papers
March – Danno Osterud – Watch Tools
May – Mike Dempsey – Old tool demo
September – Craig White – Strasbourg Astronomical Clock
November – To Be Determined (please consider volunteering)

Thank you,
Craig White

It will be held at VFW Post 4551 at 75 North Ave. Antioch, IL. 60002

The new meeting location is:
The Knights of Columbus
732 Badger Ave.
South Milwaukee, WI 53172

From either direction on Interstate 94 take the College Ave exit (Exit 319) and go East for 3.8 Miles.
Turn Right (South) on Chicago/Packard Ave. Then take the first Left (East) on to Badger Ave, go 500 feet and the Knights of Columbus building and parking lot will be on your left.

Knights of Columbus
732 Badger Ave
South Milwaukee

If you reach Lake Drive, you’ve gone a couple of blocks to far. Go South and then turn on Badger Ave.

At the The Knights of Columbus, 1800 South 92nd Street, West Allis, WI 53214.

Educational Lecture will be “Anniversary
Clocks: History and Repair”, part 2 provided by  Harry Schultz

“Show & Tell” – Bring an Anniversary clock.

A reminder that the Knights of Columbus on 92nd Street has cancelled our contract as they are selling the building in April 2019. The March meeting will be the last one at the West Allis location.

Vice President’s Message
For the January educational program we showed the first half of “Anniversary Clocks: History, Repair, & Maintenance” by Bill Ellison.
The torsional pendulum clock was first invented and patented by American Aaron Crane in 1841. Other American inventors and patents follow in 1852 and 1876, but without commercial success. German Anton Harder independently invented and patented the torsional clock in 1882 with commercial success.
Early torsional clocks can be identified by a lack of decoration above the pendulum. Before 1900 some torsional clocks had a striking mechanism yet ran for 1 year. Some clocks were made with a calendar. Older clocks have no means of leveling. Older clocks also have thicker domes with the bottom of the glass ground.  Bowler & Burdick a Jewelry store in Cleveland conceived and trade marked the term “Anniversary” clock in 1905. They imported movements from Germany and cases from France.
After World War 2 many Anniversary clocks were imported from Germany. Some-one noticed that there was a much lower customs duty on watches than clocks. By making the clock plates less than 1.77 inches wide the clocks would qualify as watches for custom duties. Early 1950s clocks had fins added to make the plates look wider. Later the fins were dropped. The pendulum guide cup was patented in 1952. In 1958 the temperature compensated torsional spring was introduced by Charles Terwilliger, greatly improving time keeping. He also published the “400 Day Clock Repair Guide”.
The March educational program will finish the second half of the DVD with an introduction to Anniversary clock repair and maintenance.

Thank you,
Harry Schulz

Here are a few pictures from our last mart. Hope to see you on the 17th.