Connecticut
Chapter 148
NAWCC

Chapter 148 members and friends gathered on March 17, a Saturday morning full of the bright promise of spring. The meeting was very well attended, and trading at the mart tables brisk.This was in sharp contrast to the previous meeting, which actually took place (albeit with sparse attendance) during the height of a heavy January snowstorm. Heartfelt thanks is due to our officers for their extraordinary graciousness and commitment to making our meetings most hospitable and successful!

Items spotted at the mart included a 22j Hamilton military pocket watch with a 24-hour dial and sweep seconds in a shock-absorbant metal case. At an adjacent table, member Sal Santopietro helped me appreciate some notable trends, one of which being the recent sharp rise in prices for some types of watches and watch-related items. For example, prices for certain late 19th to early 20th century Elgin and Dueber-Hampden 18s, 15j pocket watch models in original gold-filled box hinged cases have nearly doubled of late, as have those of vintage pocket watches with unusual or fancy dials. Furthermore, gold filled watch bands and cases are bringing considerable prices as scrap, and we hope that necessity isn't parting horological items from their history.

Member James Storrow shared his latest research and restoration project. Previously he had helped restore the historic marble-cased observatory clock at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY. The telescope is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, but an important piece of the observatory system, a chronograph, missing since 1939, was fortuitously located in the attic of an adjacent building. Like the clock, the chronograph was made by William Bond & Son of Boston.Bond had become the first director of Harvard University's observatory in 1839. In partnership with his son, Bond had begun producing astronomical and navigational instruments of extremely fine quality long before the American Civil War.

Vassar College, founded in 1861, was one of the first institutions of higher learning in America to offer women a full-range of rigorous academic study under the guidance of leading scholars of the day. After more than a century with an all-female student body, the college extended its scholarly resources to male students beginning in 1969.

A female astonomer named Maria Mitchell of Nantucket, MA achieved fame by becoming the first person to discover a comet using a telescope, thereby winning an award offered by the King of Denmark. In 1861, Mitchell, a Quakeress without benefit of a formal education, was recruited by Vassar to be its first professor of astonomy, and its observatory, telescope, clock, and chronograph were built for her use.

Vassar's chronograph (see photo), used to correlate astronomical observations via telescope with time on the regulator clock, is missing several pieces, including its rare early electric coils, recording drum, and pen. Miraculously, James was able to locate the Bonds' original plans for the chronograph in Harvard University's archives. Chapter members Aubrey Kinney and Mel Smith are working with James to restore this important and historically significant object.

In addition to helping restore Vassar College's historic choronograph, James is continuing his research on Boston tall clock maker Gawen Brown (active ca. 1750-1775). He is trying to locate examples of Gawen Brown clocks in public or private collections for study and data collection purposes. Anyone with information may contact him through Mid-Hudson Chapter 84. Stay tuned for an update.