How Time Flies
Pennsylvania Museum Corrals Clock and Watch Collection
By Marilyn Loeser
 Although I grew up watching my father work on clocks and
wrist watches as part of his jewelry store business, I had never thought of
visiting The National Watch and Clock Museum until I heard about it from a
friend living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Officially opening to the public in 1977, long after my
father’s watch and clock repair business had closed, the museum boasts a
collection of more than 12,000 items and is planning several expansion projects.
 Traveling
with our beloved Maltese Emma, my husband and I took turns touring the museum
and walking Emma around the beautifully landscaped area. In retrospect, this was
a blessing. As I walked among the displays, the museum was quiet and I was
transported back more than 40 years to a time when I recall walking along the
front of the glass showcases in my father’s jewelry store and looking at the
beautiful sparkling rings, necklaces and bracelets.
 But
it was watching my father work on tiny watches that fascinated me the most. I
still have his workbench chair; great memories.
Because the museum is the largest and most comprehensive of
its kind in the world, if one display didn’t spark a memory, the next one did.
 The
museum collection covers a wide variety of clocks, watches, tools and other
time-related items.
The main focus of the collection is 19th-century American
clocks and watches, however, additional collections include early English
Tallcase clocks, Asian timepieces from Japan and China and timekeeping devices
from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Russia.
Each display brings you into a new era of time,
chronologically through the history of timekeeping technology from early
non-mechanical devices to today’s atomic and radio controlled clocks.
I was thrilled too to find the twin to the clock I have
hanging in my living room that my father gave me. I have researched its origins
for years and was never able to nail it down until I found it here.
 One
of the museum’s pride and joys is a clock that was advertised in the 1870's as
the "8th Wonder of the World." Standing more than 11 feet tall and 9 feet long,
it took Stephen Decatur Engle of Hazleton, Pennsylvania more than 20 years to
create and was exhibited up and down the east coast for almost a hundred years.
The clock consists of three towers, two organ movements and
48 moving figures. When the clock was first shown to the public, a York Daily
newspaper reporter in York, Pennsylvania wrote: "The exhibition of this famous
clock in York closed on Saturday night. Notwithstanding the several days of very
inclement weather, the exhibition was exceedingly well patronized by the
citizens of York and vicinity. During the week there were 7,982 cash admissions,
and this flattering result, under the circumstances, goes far to show the
intrinsic merit of the clock, and also that the public were not humbugged."
 After
rescuing the clock from a New England barn and completely restoring the
treasure, guests today can witness what our forefather did more than a century
ago.
If you go:
The National Watch and Clock Museum is located at 514
Poplar Street in Columbia, Pennsylvania. For more information check the website
at
www.padutch.com/z/nawcc.htm.
For information about accommodations, restaurants and other
Lancaster County attractions, check the website
www.padutchcountry.com.
|
