|
Seminar Presentations and Speakers
|
Seminar Presentations and SpeakersPierre Frederick Ingold - His Impact on Watch Making both in Europe and America. Mister Penney will present an overview of how Ingold's work during the 1840's forever altered the established relationships among the many watch making trades, and laid the foundations for the 'American system' of watch manufacture. Though historically regarded as having failed because of Ludite trade attitudes, both in England and in America, Ingold's pioneering efforts did not go unrecognized. His influence was of seminal importance to the changes within London watch making, to the birth of the German and American watch industries; and to subsequent changes in Swiss practice. About the Speaker: From 1986 to 1992 Mr. Penney edited 'Antiquarian Horology', the journal of the Antiquarian Horological Society. He lectured on the work of Thomas Mudge at the 1993 Longitude Symposium, and presented the James Arthur Lecture on 'Horological Ephemera' at the 1994 Seminar in Toronto. In 1995 he was awarded the Barrett Silver Medal by the British Horological Institute. Since 1994 David has worked as a full-time antiquarian horologist and now researches, writes, and illustrates on related topics. He started his own business in 1998, issuing a Postal Auction Catalogue specializing in watches and watch related material, as well as starting a Horological Ephemera Picture Library that contains many unique images. His new watch-related web-site is scheduled to be running by the time of this Seminar.
Why Boston in the 1850's? - How events converged Previous American watch craft and industrial watch ventures will be explored, with regard to how their influence converged in Boston. The development of watch mass production technology did not occur in a vacuum, but was nestled amid people and circumstances favorable to its accomplishment. Associated with watch importation, watch case making, and the Connecticut clock industry, America had several likely venues for initiating watch production. In particular, Boston had an influential horological history and an active community of related trades that attracted craftsmen and businessmen. The accumulated experience of New England's watchmakers was thus concentrated in Boston's Washington St. jewelry district, among entrepreneurs and investors. About the Speaker: After joining NAWCC in 1967, Mr. Harrold was a founding officer and President of Chapter 87, and program director for the 1980 National Convention. He authored the 1984 Bulletin Supplement, American Watchmaking, and has since contributed numerous watch related articles to the NAWCC Bulletin. His writings regard mainly the technical and economic impact of industrial watch manufacture.
Early Machine Tool Development in Boston and Waltham Mister Collord will display and discuss machinery and tools from the Waltham watch factory. In addition to sophisticated machines incorporating automated functions, this will include fixtures, gauges, master models, and drawings. These devices demonstrate the detailed depth rapidly developed at Waltham for defining and building both their watches and the machines that made them. These designs had to be recorded by means of drawings and models, so that they could be reliably and repeatedly duplicated. Gauges and measuring systems also had to be developed to verify what was being produced. Only by such methods could the factory maintain a uniform flow of high quality products, and expect interchangeability of components made years apart. About the Speaker: For over a quarter century George has been a fixture at NAWCC meetings and regionals. He has also had the pleasure of consulting with and helping to build the collections of the Maine State Museum, the Henry Ford Museum, the NAWCC Museum, and others. In the last fourteen years, he has concentrated on the collection of artifacts and the study of the evolution of automatic watch making machinery. He is an authority on the manufacturing system developed at Waltham, which was adopted in factories around the world.
Evolution of the First Successful Industrialized Watch America's first successful production pocket watch, the so-called Model 57, will be chronicled over the quarter century during which it established the success of the American Watch Company. Aaron Dennison and Edward Howard were not first to employ machines in making watches, but were first to assemble a large-scale system and to start a major watch venture. Although financially unsuccessful, they did lay the essential technical groundwork. While Edward Howard continued on to built his own successful watch company, Royal Robbins salvaged the original failed enterprise by applying his marketing genius and bankroll, promoting the seminal Model 57 to success. Mister Robbins developed the fledgling manufacturing concern into a world-class industrial pioneer. About the Speaker: Ron is a member of NAWCC chapters #8, #87 and #148 and is a member of the Greater Boston Watch & Clock Collectors, maintaining their web sites. He is also a member of the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute and its Massachusetts chapter. Ron has been researching the "Origins of the Waltham Model 57" for over ten years and has frequently lectured on this subject. His book on the Model 57 is expected to be published soon.
Development of the E. Howard Three-Quarter Plate Watch, prior to 1875 Dr. Geller's presentation will trace the technical development and diversification of E. Howard & Co.'s ¾ plate movement production in the period from 1862 through 1875. In this period, Howard introduced not only his first ¾ plates, but also nickel finish, pendant winding and setting, adjustments to temperature and positions, improved steel safety barrels, Reed's whiplash micrometer regulator, and numerous escapement innovations. New insights are offered into Howard's eccentric production philosophy and into several unique development choices that helped to set Howard watches apart from those of other contemporary manufacturers. The functional grading system employed by the Howard firm in the 1862-1875 period is elucidated for the first time, based on recent original research, and technical details and new production data are presented for several rare varieties and grades. This oral presentation is based on a more extensive written work to be published in the NAWCC BULLETIN in 2003. About the Speaker: Dr. Geller has collected and researched E. Howard & Company pocket watches for nearly 20 years, and has published four previous BULLETIN articles on Howard watches: E. Howard & Company Watch Dials, August, 1993; A Guide to Cases for E. Howard & Company Watches, April, 1995; Some Unusual E. Howard & Company Watches, October, 1997; and The Origin and Evolution of the E. Howard & Company Divided Plate Keywind Watch Movement, February, 2000. He serves on the National Research Committee, and is General Chairman for this 2002 NAWCC Seminar. Dr. Geller also chaired the founding committee of NAWCC National Chapter 174,"Pocket Horology", which he currently serves as Secretary. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife, Maria, and daughter, Anne. Other than American pocket watches and English pocket chronometers, his interests include collecting and singing sea shanties and sea music, Celtic and traditional American music, tournament chess, world history, and sailing.
The Life and Work of Charles Vander Woerd This presentation recounts Charles Vander Woerd's life and career, successes and failures, inventions, and technical legacy, from his beginnings in Holland to his final work at the U.S. Watch Company of Waltham. Of the incredibly talented inventors and mechanics who worked for the American Watch Company during its early years, Charles Vander Woerd was especially important in propelling the company's success. He was a Dutch immigrant who initially came to Waltham as a machinist for the old Boston Watch Company, then ultimately rose to Factory Superintendent of the American Watch Company. His ideas and inventions regarding machine and watch movement design had an enormous influence on the development of mechanized watch making. About the Speaker:
James Arthur Lecture Watches and Clocks: The Road to Quality Mass-Production Few fields, other than some fine arts, embody so much hand skill and precise labor as the making of time measuring instruments, and none combine this creative intensity with mass production. Collectors of timekeeping instruments are often so taken with the creative art and individual skill reflected in the product, that they understandably lose themselves in admiration of the work --- the individual piece and its monumental virtues. But, students of horology as industry add other standards of achievement, which, in turn, ironically affect the value attributed to the timepieces, even of the mass-produced variety. Objects d'art exist also as objects de manufacture. This combination of art and industry has had a major influence on the nature of international competition in horology. The early leadership of Britain reflected the availability of a large pool of hand workers, trained for a range of horological skills, then organized so as to divide the work and encourage specialization. British pre-eminence does not surprise, given the country's general industrial priority. On the other hand, Switzerland produced something of the unexpected, the more so as Switzerland started later, caught up in the early nineteenth century, then lead the European industry by mid-century. As Britain lost ground, for artistic shortcomings as well as failures in technology, the major new competitor was found in the New World, in the United States. Here, the economy was drawn to mass-production at the lowest possible cost for the largest possible market, even with so artistic an object as the timekeeper. In such horological companies as Waltham and Ingraham, one finds the predecessors and exemplars for auto makers, such as Ford and General Motors. Herein is also an anticipation of the American-European divergence in the conception of automobile manufacture. About the Speaker: Long interested in horology and its historic impact, Professor Landes was a speaker at the 1993 Longitude Symposium. He is in the enviable position of combining both professional and collecting interests. With much of his formal research in areas of the economic history of industrial development, and in national economic growth and divisions, he added to his many publications the popular 1983 book, Revolutions in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World. He continues to research and publish on subjects of business and economics.
Panel Discussion regarding the Early Entrepreneurs: A. L. Dennison, E. Howard, and R. Robbins
The Impact of American Watch Technology on the English Trade The presentation will encompass three main topics: the impact and role of American personnel, the import of American watch movements for sale in the UK, and the import of American watch tools and machinery which facilitated the manufacture of English watches on the inter-changeable system. The talk will cover the contribution of Aaron Lufkin Dennison (the founder of the Waltham Watch Company), Nelson Pitkin Stratton (Waltham UK Manager) and Ambrose Webster of the American Watch Tool Company. The peaks and troughs of English machine-made watches will be explored, including the contributions made by Rotherhams, Ehrhardts, English Watch Company and the Lancashire Watch Company. The import of American watches into England will also be covered. About the Speaker: Phil is a qualified professional member of the British Horological Institute supporting the North London branch and a member of the Antiquarian Horology Society and the Silver Society of Great Britain. He is a freeman of London and Lincoln (his birthplace) and a Liveryman of the Clockmakers' Company. Phil was elected a Fellow of the NAWCC in 1995 and is the 1998 recipient of the NAWCC James W Gibbs Literary Award. He lectures extensively on American Pocket Watches, American Military Timekeeping, the Dennison Watchcase Company and English Watchcase Makers. Phil is a member of the NAWCC Editorial Committee and organized the 2000 NAWCC Seminar in London.
Banquet Presentation: The stock company formed to develop the site of a watch manufacturing enterprise in Waltham was prophetically called the Waltham Improvement Company. The watch company intended to improve the lives if its workers, as well as those of its investors. Its primary promoter, Aaron Dennison, envisioned the venture as the economic basis of a Swedenborgian community. With burgeoning success, land speculators, community planners, and social leaders surrounded the watch factory with trolley lines, parks, residential neighborhoods, schools, and corner markets. The accumulation of buildings, machinery, and watches, now remembered as the Waltham Watch Company, was the engine of a social experiment that became an archetype of the patriarchal company. Sincere thoroughness invested in establishing the Waltham horological community as an integrated human endeavor created a social cohesiveness that resisted union intervention for most of its history. Mister McIntyre will explore the human side of developing a second generation industry in which workers contributed intelligence as well as labor in creating sophisticated technical products. By these same virtues, they created a company-based community of equal social aesthetic and sophistication. About the speaker: |