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“Welcome to Maine, the way life should
be!” Thirty-seven
members and guests arrived at the Atrium “Winner’s Sports Grill” in
Brunswick, Maine beneath a lofty clouds nudged by an early Fall
breezes. No more bugs!
Newcomers
aren’t strangers for long, for Chapter 89 is known for good
hospitality. Everyone had an opportunity
to ponder over the tables of Show N Tell and Silent Auction items.
The 169th meeting and 37th
year of Maine Chapter 89 got underway at 11:00 a.m. with some NEW faces in
the crowd. During the Welcome Hour,
we caught up on the latest news.
The Business Meeting started around 12:55 PM,
led by President Nan Vance, following the social hour and a delightful
luncheon.
INTRODUCTION:
President Nan Vance extended a special warm welcome to the
membership, and she made note that Alex and Jane Cummings, once again, made
the longest trip from New Brunswick, Canada. She called on the membership for self-introductions around
the room.
OLD BUSINESS:
President Vance thanked the many people who worked hard to make the
July Lobster Picnic a success and noted that the clubhouse was left in
better shape than we received it. Special thanks were extended to
Secretary and Chef Extraordinaire Ern Grover for his culinary contributions
and exceptional hard work. A rousing applause from the membership
followed.
Acting Secretary Alex Cummings read the Minutes of the Meeting for our July
2006 meeting. Treasurer Tom Vance
rendered the Treasurer’s report for July and September. The membership accepted all
reports.
CHAPTER
CHARTER: The original Charter issued by the NAWCC has come home.
Cal Morgan, FNAWCC and former Maine Chapter 89 President announced our
original charter has been found. It was promptly sent to Cal
Morgan, and after hugging and kissing it, he framed it. Welcome
home!
Cal filled us in on the history of the
Chapter and how it began as the Maine Clock Collector's Club. He read
the Minutes from the FIRST meeting at which the Charter was originally
presented to the Chapter. He noted that the Charter was presented at
the October 26, 1975 meeting, on his birthday. E. Hushman, NAWCC President and W.D. Bundens M.D., NAWCC Vice
President had signed it. Cal then
passed the Charter along to President Vance, as the Charter is to be kept
by the President, and then passed to the next President.
President Vance announced that we’ve located Chapter 89’s first President,
Skip Smith. He is now an Honorary
Member of Maine Chapter 89.
RECOGNITION AWARD: President Vance noted that Cal Morgan received
NAWCC Old Timer award for being one of 200 active members having the lowest
membership numbers. He was sporting a handsome gold lapel pin for standing
with the NAWCC since the early beginnings. Cal related that he is
very honored, "but it kind of makes me feel old!"
WILLOWBROOK EXHIBIT: President
Vance then read Ern Grover's report about the Maine Chapter 89 Clock
Exhibit at Willowbrook Museum Village.
Chapter 89 hosted a clock and watch exhibit at Willowbrook in
Newfield, Maine on August 26th.
Concurrently nine eager chapter members participated in the Chapter
89 Field Suitcase Workshop as instructors Ben Crosby, Mark Beever and Ern
Grover coached the progress of their efforts. Ben and Trudy Crosby also hosted Kid’s Korner at the
Sandwich Shoppe annex at Willowbrook.
Come join us in August 2007.
Willowbrook staff was extremely pleased with the positive feedback
from area visitors.
NEW BUSINESS:
THE
ATRIUM: The owners of the Atrium
building are selling. Chapter 89 actually
meets at Winners, a separate business.
Winners will be moving next door to a building that is to be constructed
especially for them.
ASSISTANT
SECRETARY: Chapter 89 is still
seeking to fill the office of Assistant Secretary.
NEW MEMBERS: Creighton Gogos introduced Michael
Randazzo of Portland, Maine and Carl Silveri of Long Island, Maine to the
membership and administered the induction oath. Chapter 89 Membership
welcomes each new member with a warm handshake.
WORKSHOP: October 21, 2006 is the date for Chapter
89 Field Suitcase Workshop (F101-3) to be held at a location to be
announced. November 18, 2006 is the
date for Workshop (F101-4) to be held at Jim Lea’s workshop in
Rockport. It’s not too late to get
involved in these workshops.
NEXT MEETING: November 18, 2006 is the date of our
next membership meeting. Time to
practice waving your hands for the Election of 2007 Officers and Directors
(“Pick me, pick me”) and the Chapter 89 Annual Auction (“See my hand, see
my bid?”). If we can’t get you to
serve a Chapter Officer, we’ll get your money on a bid. Please bring your wallet, bring
something to sell and bring items for Show & Tell.
MAINE TOWER CLOCK
RESEARCH: Bruce DeLugo is giving
hours of his time to digitally scan more than 2200 projection slides from
the collection of Carroll Morse. As
you know, Dr. Mark Beever has agreed to continue this valuable
workshop. With Bruce’s kind
assistance, we’ll soon have the statistical information and images in a
workable database for future exhibits and research purposes.
Raffle
drawing: Marilyn
Karl drew her own number and won the $20 prize; new Member Michael Randazzo
drew the $10 ticket for winner Mary French. A special “Thank You” goes to Chuck French who has offered to
sell raffle tickets at future membership meetings. Chapter 89 truly appreciates Chuck.
SHOW N TELL: Paul and Joanne Fournier brought in a
lovely Silas Hoadley Ogee. Joanne's brother found at a yard
sale. Paul immediately asked him to go back and purchase it, sight
unseen.
Paul and Joanne also had the face, mechanism, pendulum and one
of the weights from her brother’s tall case clock. The earliest
family record is from 1855. Generations ago, most of the name
was cleaned off the face. Family records indicated it could be a
Wingate. Cal Morgan said it looked correct to be a Wingate.
Rick and Chris Balzer agreed. Chris
Balzer has a Wingate in his home, and said it looked very similar. A
'W' is what remains of the signature, and everyone agreed that the second
line was Augusta. The face was also numbered.
Paul reported that the weight shows the damage created when a deer
hunter's stray shot came into the farmhouse. It went through the side of the clock, bouncing off the
weight. Joanne’s father had been standing in the path just minutes
prior. Her mother placed the bullet,
all shavings, and the newspaper article all together in an archival bag
inside the clock base.
Cal Morgan brought in an 1850’s English fusee skeleton clock, with a
replica of Queen Anne’s spire, he purchased many years ago. It has a passing strike on the hour,
demanding attention every hour to really see what time it is. The “battleaxe” strike hammer was
missing. Cal manufactured a
replacement battleaxe striking arm.
Of course, the craftsmanship was so excellent, and it fooled an
expert on this type of clock into believing that it was original.
Tom Vance brought in two American Watch Co.
pocket watches, key wind silver cased, he had purchased for $5.00 as part
of a box of watches many years ago from an antique shop. There was
also a Waltham pocket watch that had been sold in 1966 for over
$2,000. It may not sound like a lot of money, but at the time, it
represented about seven to eight month’s salary! The collector who
purchased the watch believed it to be the fourth pocket watch made by
Waltham. Good things come in small packages.
President Vance encouraged members to bring in Show & Tell items and
reiterated that they need not be fancy!
presentation: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made and
seconded, and the members turned their attention to the presentation, “Watches and Clocks: Collecting,
Repairing and Making”.
Rick
Balzer began by introducing the "Balzer Family", Rick, Linda, son
Chris, and the youngest member, his grandson Cameron. Full of
enthusiasm, Rick, Linda and Chris Balzer enthralled the audience with some
tales of their years of dedication to collecting, restoration and
manufacture of timepieces. He said the presentation would have a
little for everybody including watch and clock collectors and makers.
It was an informative,
educational, and entertaining presentation of where we have been with clock
and watch making, what is happening today, and where he would like to see
us go. After his presentation he then opened the floor to member's
questions.
"We do what you do, but a little differently - most clock and
watchmakers don't make everything, those of you who feel that you can't do
everything, are wrong YOU CAN! The old makers' achievements are
appreciated, but their craft seems to be lost today. We aren't making
things today, and we should. The
major watch companies are buying up most of the parts supply houses.
They found that the money to be made is in servicing timepieces, so now to
get things fixed you have to send the piece to them. Today's major
clock movement makers have designed them to last a maximum of twenty to
twenty-five years, and replacing them with new movements is cheaper than
trying to fix them. Tell that to your customer, and see their
reaction after being told they bought a quality piece." Rick's
message was to gather up any and all the spare parts
you can, because they will soon disappear.
Rick gave a history
of the Balzer family business. He started with a simple shop and lots of
literature. Rick then bought clocks and watches at the flea market
for investment and restoration.
They started with a "crude" tower clock and turned it into a
successful business. After four years of construction their first clock was
presented to the people in custody of L.L. Bean in honor of Aaron Lufkin
Dennison, “The Father of the Watchmaking Industy in the United States”, who
was born in Freeport, Maine (which was still Massachusetts at that time).
This was the first tower clock made in America since Howard's last Tower
Clock in 1964.
Dennison, along with Edward Howard, began the American Horologe Company,
which eventually became the Waltham Watch Company. Elgin for example became very successful
using stolen engineers from Waltham.
Balzer's goal is to bring back American-Made timepieces. For a
starter Chris has prepared one hundred wooden works movements to go into
wooden clock cases, all made from the Maine woods.
Rick showed us his working prototype tower clock that combined old
"know how" with modern technology. It has the Dennison gravity
escapement and a six-degree pendulum arc to provide incredible time
accuracy. Combining this "old know how", with modern metals for
the pendulum rod, aerodynamic shape for the bob, and modern technology he
can make his Tower Clocks accurate to within three seconds per month.
The clock requires no monthly oiling and only annual cleaning.
His plea to the members was - "Build
something - afterwards you will feel different. There is no feeling
like it."
Rick had a large display of pocket watches and wristwatches. He took
several and spoke of their history and characteristics.
During Rick's presentation Chris made a watch pinion on an automatic
pinion-cutting machine, they brought in for the meeting. It was one of
several they acquired.
As one would expect, many members lingered to ask questions of the Balzers.
Invitation:
Come join us at a future meeting.
We’d love to show you some Maine hospitality.
My sincere thanks to Alex Cummings, Cal Morgan,
Nan Vance, Paul Fournier for taking notes in my absence, making a combined
report much easier.
Ern Grover, Chapter 89 Secretary
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