NAWCC Chapter 135 Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier Chapter 135 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) is a group of individuals who share a common interest in horology, the art and science of timekeeping.  Membership is comprised of individuals and couples who are interested in all aspects of collecting watches and clocks. This also includes history of watches and/or clocks repairing restoration and manufacturing clocks and watches.

While membership is concentrated in the Tacoma to Seattle our members come from as far south as Olympia all the way to Bellingham or basically the entire Puget Sound Pacific Northwest region. 

Meetings are usually held in the afternoons of the second Sunday of alternating months and are held in either of 2 locations…The Grange Hall in Lynnwood or at Evergreen College in Auburn. On the months that we are not meeting live we have zoom meetings open to anyone on the planet.

Each live meeting consists of a social hour (with refreshments), a brief business meeting, and a program.  Programs may include discussions of horological topics from the technical to general interest items.  At other times, a “Show & Tell” is held where members take turns showing items and briefly discussing them.  At many meetings, a “Mart” is also held where members may bring items available for sale or trade.

Chapter Officers

President

Jack Goldberg

Vice President


Secretary

Jeff Grossman

Treasurer

Richard Sowa



March 10, 2024 Chapter 135 Meeting

WHEN

SUNDAY, March 10, 2024

note new location for our meetings

WHERE

Norwest School of Horology
Shoreline Center
18560 1st Ave NE
Shoreline, WA 98155

View Shoreline Center Map for room location (pdf)

TIME

11:30 for socializing and Mart buy/sell/trade
12:30 business meeting followed by the program

PROGRAM

We are fortunate to have long-time chapter member, Hans Dahlke, presenting a program on Howard watches and advertising. Have a Howard watch? Bring it along to share!

PLEASE NOTE – This is an in-person meeting only. No zoom.



Hybrid in-person / zoom  meeting schedule 2024

January 14

Matt Zinski
a program from the Horological Society of New York featuring Roland Murphy of RGM Watches repairing a Patek Grand Complication

Salish Hall
Green River College
12401 SE 320th Street

February 11
 
 
The Story of Richard Cranch by Andy Dervan
Zoom Meeting
 
March 10

TBD
 
Norwest School of Horology
Shoreline Center
18560 1st Ave NE
Shoreline, WA 98155


April 14

  Bob Pritzker
“A special Greenwich Clock”
Zoom Meeting
May
17 - 19

Pacific Northwest Regional Portland Or

June 9

TBD
Zoom Meeting 
 
July 14

  TBD

Norwest School of Horology
Shoreline Center
18560 1st Ave NE
Shoreline, WA 98155

August 11

TBD
Zoom Meeting
 


September
15

TBD
 
Norwest School of Horology
Shoreline Center
18560 1st Ave NE
Shoreline, WA 98155


October 13

 
TBD
Zoom Meeting

November 10

TBD
 
Norwest School of Horology
Shoreline Center
18560 1st Ave NE
Shoreline, WA 98155

December

 
“Holiday Party 2024”
LaQuinta in Tacoma
1425 East 27th Street, Tacoma, WA




Links


Hybrid in-person / zoom  meeting schedule 2023


January 8

“Show and Tell A-E”

Did you get something new as a present this holiday season? Did you get something old that is new to you? Or do you just have something of horological interest that you’d like to share?
We’re looking for items that start with the letters A to E. So c’mon you Atmos, Bulova, Cartier, (George) Daniels, and E. Howard fans. Show us what you’ve got!

Salish Hall
Green River College
12401 SE 320th Street

February
 
 
no meeting
 
March

“Westinghouse of the Antique Clock Business”
We are fortunate to have Aubrey Aramaki, owner of Aubrey’s Clock Gallery in Issaquah, telling his story of how he got into the business, and how he imported tens of thousands of clocks from Asia.
Show & Tell is always encouraged! We’ll be doing letters F-G-H-I.
 
Cedar Valley Grange Hall
20526 52nd Avenue W
Lynwood, WA


April

 no meeting
May 7

“All The Different Ways To Keep Time In A Watch"
Our colleague, Hamza Masood, will review the various ways in which timekeeping has been performed mechanically or otherwise in all watches, the distinct innovations in timekeeping that have been successfully mass produced over their lifetime, thereby revolutionizing humans' relationship with time forever.

As always, Show and Tell is welcomed.

Salish Hall
Green River College
12401 SE 320th Street
Auburn, WA


May

regional in Portland

June

no meeting
 
July

“Revitalizing American Watchmaking”

We are fortunate to have Matthew Graham, owner of ARES Watch Company, based in Stanwood, WA. ARES is a US manufacturer of operational mission timers: durable, hard use timers guaranteed for life.
 
Show & Tell is always encouraged! We’ll be doing letters J-K-L-M.
 
Cedar Valley Grange Hall
20526 52nd Avenue W
Lynwood, WA

August

  no meeting


September

 Open House: Those who made the trip (and braved the ferry
armageddon) to Ernie Lopez's home in Poulsbo were treated to an afternoon of horological delights.

Ernie, a former naval intelligence officer, gave a short, but fascinating talk on a carriage clock that was used to smuggle information during World War 2. Details on troop strength, positions, and movement were engraved on the inside plate of the clock. Invisible from the outside, it required a watchmaker at both ends of the communications chain to make it happen.


October

 
Zoom Meeting

Philip Morris
chair of the NAWCC Museum
Collections Committee, to discuss the current S-Town Exquisite Clocks exhibit at the Museum. The exhibit shares the story of John B. McLemore and his superb craftsmanship in restoring many iconic clocks, including French automata, mystery, and industrial clocks as well as some of John's astronomical works.

November
annual chapter auction
 
Cedar Valley Grange Hall
20526 52nd Avenue W
Lynwood, WA

December

 
“Holiday Party 2023”
LaQuinta in Tacoma
1425 East 27th Street, Tacoma, WA



Hybrid in-person / zoom  meeting schedule 2022

January 8

“18th Century Watchmaker Robert Leslie”

We were very fortunate to have as this month’s presenter, Rich Newman, a specialist in Colonial and Early American Horology. Rich is the recent past Chair of the NAWCC.

His program was “Early American Watchmaker: Robert Leslie of Philadelphia…The Greatest American Watchmaker Ever Forgotten”.

Rich gave some reasons as to why Leslie has been overlooked in the annals of American watchmaking:

    He was listed, in all documentation about this era, as a Scotsman. This turns out to be false. He was born in Maryland, but was later hounded out of Philadelphia by the watchmakers’ guild, left for London, and then returned to Philadelphia.
    In 1836, a fire at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C. wiped out all Colonial-era patent records. There was no paper trail leading back to Leslie.
    It was believed, up until recently, that no examples of his patented clocks and watches had survived (also false.)

Robert Leslie was self-taught and filed his first patent in 1789. He was, in fact, the first American to receive clock and watch patents from the U.S. government. He made clocks for both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
 
by Rich Newman

February
8
 

“How I Started a Watch Company”


Matt Zinski, founder of Typsim Watches (www.typsim.com), offers an insider's guide to starting a watch company from conceptual sketch to manufacturing and marketing to sales. Never before have the resources for designing and manufacturing a watch been more accessible than they are today. But even with the ubiquity of companies ready to help the process is filled with complex challenges and compelling opportunities, and in the case of Typsim Watches, some self-imposed. Come learn how Matt approached this process with his uncompromising design vision and eye for details.
March 5
“Wristwatch Show-And-Tell”

Bring your newest/favorite/special/unique wristwatch to display/talk about/share with the group. Don’t have such a wristwatch? Bring a pocket watch!

April 2
Bob Pritzker, from Toronto, will present a program on “Complications in Pocket and Wrist Watches.”

Bob will describe various complications that can be found in both pocket and wrist watches and will show examples of some of the most complex and most expensive watches produced over time. We will see examples from the simplest addition of a date, to the most extreme with a perpetual calendar that reflects a nineteen-year lunar cycle.

May

Pacific Northwest Regional 2022
May 13, 14, 15 (Public Days May 14, 15)

Kitsap Conference Center
100 Washington Avenue
Bremerton, WA 98337


June 12

Multi Social Meeting
Chapter 135, The Horological Society of Puget Sound, WWCA and the former nawcc chapter 121 and the former chapter 50

July

no meeting scheduled

August 6

 home of Ernie Lopez


September

 no meeting scheduled

October
9
 
“The Gruen Watch Company, from Soup to Nuts” Jack Goldberg will present the first part on pocket watches and Gary Myers will follow with a presentation on wrist watches.

Location Cedar Valley Grange Hall

November  
“Public Timekeeping”
Andy Dervan, our NAWCC colleague from Michigan, will present a historical overview of public timekeeping. Starting with the public sundials and clepsydras of antiquity, through 14th-century weight-driven turret clocks and later astronomical, clock jacks, and orreries, to the present. By 1860 the demand for public timekeeping grew as people moved from farms to cities and tower clocks were made in large numbers. Other forms of public timekeeping eventually evolved: street clocks, building clocks, and gallery clocks. Today, small electric street clocks are popular.
Show & Tell is always encouraged!
Snacks will be provided.


December
4
 
“Holiday Party 2022”
LaQuinta in Tacoma
1425 East 27th Street, Tacoma, WA




Zoom meeting schedule 2021

January 10
“chronographs made by the American Waltham
Watch Company”
by Jeff Grieff

January 24  
Prague Astronomical Clock
by Bob Pritzker

February 7  
No meeting today due to Super Bowl Sunday

February 21  
Ernie Lopez, will present a program on the West Coast Clock and Watch Museum in Vista, CA

March 7
Darrah Artzner, all the way from Houston, will present a program on Rockford 18-size movements

March 21  
Andy Dervan will be presenting a program on Simon Willard Patent Timepieces

April 4  
Easter Sunday – NO MEETING, to allow for holiday observance and family time

April 18
 
Gary Myers has a program on Morbier Clocks

May 2

Pat Holloway’s presentation is on Commemorative Watches and Ephemera

May 16
 
New member,  Chris Wolle, has volunteered to speak on Illinois Watches

June 13
 
June 27
 
July 11
 
July 25
 Tim Orr will be presenting “GPS for Beginners”
August 8
 
September
4
  Andrew Baron on his restoration of the Maillardet automaton
October
2
 Mr. Albert Zeller of RC TriTec, direct from Switzerland, which will cover the history of luminescent compounds used in watches and clocks and the gradual migration from radium to tritium to current technology
November  
 

December
5
 “Holiday Party 2021”
Sunday December 5th
Mart: 9:00 am – Brunch: 10:45 am – Adjourn 1:30 pm La Quinta Inn
1425 East 27th Street, Tacoma, WA
Program: Steve McGowan will present his 3-D printed horological creations including his latest tourbillon masterpiece





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