All Events

4^th July 2019

HARRIS HOROLOGY

James Harris BA (Hons) MBHI

For our July lecture we look forward to welcoming James Harris, currently Conservator in residence at the Clockworks. James also runs his own clock and watch repair business.

After graduating with a First Class degree from the then-new BA (hons) Horology course at Birmingham School of Jewellery, James has spent time working for brands such as Tag Heuer, Omega, and Christopher Ward. He has also returned to Birmingham as a lecturer.

James chose to launch Harris Horology in order to work with his main horological interest, vintage and antique watches and pocket watches.

For his talk to us James will be describing what it’s like to train to become a horologist in the 21st century, studying horology as a degree. He will also be discussing what lead to becoming an independent watchmaker under Harris Horology and the various avenues that keep him busy away from the bench.

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6^th June 2019

HOUDIN MYSTERY CLOCKS

Francoise Collanges

For our June lecture we look forward to welcoming Francoise Collanges.

Based in Brussels but also working in the UK and in France, Françoise is a trained horologist, specialising in the conservation and care of historical objects.

In the last few years, Francoise has collected as much information and pictures that she could on Robert-Houdin’s mystery clocks. Her lecture will give some historical backgrounds to Robert-Houdin’s clocks and examine what are their distinctive features, and the issues she has met with them. Her aim is to better understand how they were made, by whom, and how well they are meant to perform. Francoise looks forward to discussing with our members the experiences they have had with such clocks.

Trained in some of the best schools in conservation in Europe (Paris-Sorbonne in France, West Dean College in the UK), she embraces the ethics defined by the leading national and international institutions in the field of conservation (see ECCO guidelines) and provides the highest standards of work. She is a member of the Institute of Conservator-restorers in Ireland (ICRI) and of Icon (UK).

A member of the AHS council Françoise trained for two years at West Dean College (UK) in the conservation of clocks and obtained a MA in Conservation Studies, before settling as a free-lance conservator.

This is one lecture not to be missed!

2^nd May 2019

STUDENTS FROM WEST DEAN COLLEGE – PRESENTATIONS

Malcolm Archer FBHI

For our May meeting we welcome Malcolm Archer and his students from West Dean College.  The speakers will be a number of his Conservation of Clocks students.

This annual event gives the students a chance to try their hand at public speaking and us the opportunity to hear what is going on in horological education. Students will present on a project that makes up a major part of their coursework for qualification in restoration and conservation of antique clocks. The evening promises good variety and an opportunity for lively discussion.

It is always interesting to hear about the projects that the students have been working on and we will have a variety of topics presented.  It is also a good opportunity to hear first-hand about what the tutors and students are doing and show our support

Please note the meeting is not at our normal venue but at

Soper Hall – Harestone Valley Road, Caterham, CR3 6HY

4th April 2019

The Untold Story of British Jerome

Peter Gosnell

For our April lecture we are pleased to welcome branch member Peter Gosnell to give his talk on “The Untold Story of British Jerome.”

When Chauncey Jerome and his company ‘The Jerome Manufacturing Company’ of New Haven, Connecticut, filed for bankruptcy in 1856, the New Haven Clock Company (NHCC from now on) purchased their assets.

As soon as the NHCC started producing from the old Jerome Manufacturing Co. plant, research suggests they either obtained, took, or assumed the right to use the name of ‘Jerome & Co.’. The name of ‘Jerome’ sold clocks both in England and the USA, being regarded by the public as a trusted brand.

Initially John Calvin Plimpton (an American by birth) and his company became sub-occupiers of The Jerome Buildings in Liverpool, England from 1891-1905. Then from 1908-1912 they were listed in local Directories as the sole agents of the NHCC in Great Britain.

Further research suggested that Plimpton & Co. soon started assembling NHCC movements at their premises in Liverpool from a mixture of imported NHCC parts as well as their own manufactured parts in order to try to Anglicise these movements to make them more appealing to English tastes.

Tonight’s talk will look at these movements, known by their labels as ‘British Jerome Movements’ in some depth, with all known movement models being presented during the talk.

With the assistance of two of our own branch members, Mick Welch and Gary Preston, probably the largest collection to date of these British Jerome Movements will also be on show to be inspected by the audience after the talk.

Peter lives in Greenwich and is now a pro-active grandparent with his wife Dinah. During his working life, Peter was employed by the University of the Arts London where he eventually taught practical courses in historical photographic processes. Before that he ran his own restoration joinery and furniture making business. For the future Peter intends to carry on his own Fine Art Photography practice, write horological articles and give horological talks on subject areas he has studied.

7th March 2019

AGM followed by a talk from Stephen Doerr

Some 18th Century Provincial Longcase Clockmakers

As usual this meeting will be a two-stage event. Firstly, there will be the AGM where you have the opportunity to find out the current state of branch affairs. There will be reports from the Chairman and Treasurer followed by any questions, and the election of the committee for the coming year.

Please remember to vote at the AGM you must be a member of both our Branch and the BHI at Upton Hall.

Now for the main event!!

Stephen’s talk promises to be a jaunt through his horological encounters with particular reference to some interesting makers, their hallmarks of quality and struggles to survive.

Having had a technical education and always intending to be an engineer, after his A levels Stephen joined a large multinational electronics research company. Early on, realising it was not for him, he returned to college to study mathematics and a career in Secondary Education followed. His 20 years as Head of Mathematics were punctuated by various secondments to government agencies where he developed an interest in Project Management. Currently this includes Summer Schools in London for American post graduates research and chairmanship of a medical charity developing Primary Health care in The Gambia.

And clocks? – about 30 years ago his engineering interests were rekindled with the purchase of a birdcage longcase clock movement and he was hooked! The last 20 years he has focused on researching 18th century provincial longcase clocks and their makers. ‘I am pleasantly surprised by the number of unrecorded makers and examples of unusual features that still surface’. There is always a bit of ‘creep’ and in recent years he has strayed into early painted dial features; is currently renovating an 1868 two train turret clock – and to his wife’s consternation the construction of an appropriate turret!

Stephen is an active member of various horological groups and has just been appointed external examiner for Birmingham University BA Hons Horology programme.

7th February 2019

Tales from the Clock Tower

Andy Burdon

Andy’s talk “Tales from the Clock Tower” will be about clocks he has seen or worked on together with some interesting history on Turret Clock characters.

Andy Burdon worked for 30 years in corporate IT in London for a multi-national Engineering Group and subsequently went on to help set up a new company in the IT hardware disposal business concentrating on government approved data erasure. This business went from a startup to be audited as the best in the industry in 18 months.

Andy has had a lifelong enthusiasm for turret clocks and curates his own turret clock collection and workshop.

Andy is a Council Member of the Clocks Conservation Committee at the Church Buildings Council and the Chief Executive Officer of his own technology company having held a number of previous CIO board positions in the technology and communications industry.

He is also the database manager for the AHS turret clock group recording every turret clock made in the UK.Since taking over the database in 2016 he has worked to turn it into an internet based database and take it from 650 records to just over 4500. He has worked with the Church of England to link the turret clock database with the Church Heritage Record database which contains the information about all 17,600 Church of England churches in the UK.

In November 2018 Andy joined the Smith of Derby board as a Non-Executive Director and has been working with Smith of Derby Limited for many months, helping the company improve performance in the traditional turret clock marketplace and working with the engineers in the field to improve the work they perform.

3rd January 2019

The Clockmakers’ Museum

Anna Rolls

For the first lecture of 2019 we are delighted to welcome Anna Rolls, Curator of the Clockmakers’ Museum.

The Clockmakers Museum moved to its new home at the Science Museum in 2015, having previously resided at the Guildhall for the past 142 years. The collection belongs to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, one of the 110 London Livery Companies, and is the oldest of its kind in the world, consisting of over 1500 items of horological ephemera. The collection spans the history of over 400 years of clock-making in Great Britain and beyond, and the gallery tells its story paying particular attention to the clockmakers of London and the beginnings of the Clockmakers Company.

Anna started as the Museum’s Curator in September 2018, and has been busy familiarising herself with the Museum and Company’s history and customs, thanks to the various accounts written on the subject including those by Samuel Elliott Atkins, Clerk to the Company in the nineteenth century, and Sir George White, Keeper Emeritus of the Museum.

Anna will give a presentation about the museum and its contents, looking at its history and the development of the archive and collection in the nineteenth century, the history of the Company and the key clockmakers associated with it, and the collection itself, and how it tells the story of London clockmakers, through the ‘golden age’ of horology, through to the present day.

6th December 2018

The Struthers First In House Movement

Dr Rebecca Struthers FBHI

For this years “George Daniels Lecture” we are delighted to welcome Rebecca Struthers FBHI.

Rebecca is half of the husband-and-wife team behind the multi-award-winning Struthers Watchmakers’ workshops and studio. Both practitioners who started their training in vintage and antique watch restoration; Craig and Rebecca Struthers founded their first workshop in 2012. Inspired by the number of watches being destroyed by their local bullion industry in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, the Struthers started collecting the discarded movements and rebuilding them as new watches. Using hand tools and machinery made between the 1870s and 1950s, their recommissioning process involved stripping vintage and antique movements back to their component parts before reconstructing them with improvements to durability, timekeeping and regulation. They then create precious metal case for the watch using traditional casemaking techniques. During this process, the Struthers found realised they were capable making virtually every component for someone else’s watch, and so, decided it was time to create these components for their own watch.

In this talk, Rebecca will share some of their recent projects, and, the first half of their journey towards the creation of their first in-house movement which is due for completion in early 2020.