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Books available for purchase are noted as such below the book's image in this list. The Library and Research Center has lending copies of many books available to NAWCC members. Check availability in their Online Library Catalog or the Lending Library book list.
Philip T. Priestley, Watch Case Makers of England: A History and Register of Gold & Silver Watch Case Makers of England: 1720-1920 (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 20, Spring 1994) [Whole No. 920]. 8-1/2" x 11" softcover, 216 pages, and 126 photos. |
Bryan Rogers and Snowden Taylor, Eight-Day Wood Movement Shelf Clocks—Their Cases, Their Movements, Their Makers (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 19, Spring 1993) [Whole No. 919]. 8-1/2" x 11" hardcover, 60 pages, and 151 photos.
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Lee H. Davis, The Greek Revival Influence on American Clock Case Design and Empire Clock Case Development (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 18, Spring 1991) [Whole No. 918]. 8-1/2" x 11" softcover, 112 pages, and 192 photos. Greek architecture, with its pillars and columns, influenced the style of clock cases. The cyma recta cornice, an S-like curve incorporated into a molding so that the concave part projects beyond the convex part, is the classic representation of the Greek style. This column and case design reached its zenith about 1840 to 1860, but the design persisted as late as 1912 in Seth Thomas column and cornice clocks. Columns became an Empire hallmark in furniture and clock case style. Early Empire style from 1810 to 1825 appeared lighter and more delicate, but furniture made from 1825 to 1840 was larger and appeared heavier. In 1827 or 1828 Elias Ingraham was credited with developing one of the earliest documented forms of a clock case that used the classical Empire style. |
Joseph R. Katra Jr., Clockmakers & Clockmaking in Southern Maine 1770-1870 (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 17, Summer 1989) [Whole No. 917]. 8-1/2" x 11" softcover, 80 pages, and 159 photos. Because of the rural character of Maine, which was not conducive to a manufacturing center, clockmaking in Maine during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries never reached the levels achieved in Massachusetts and Connecticut. However, there were some notable clockmakers: Nicholas Blasdel, Paul Rogers, his son Abner Rogers, and his grandson John Taber. In Part One Katra discusses clockmaking and clockmakers in the Portland area; in Part Two he goes farther south in Maine and into New Hampshire, which included the Quaker Iron Plate clockmaking school. The style of clocks ranged from tallcase to shelf and later long, slender shelf clocks |
Frederick Shelley, Aaron Dodd Crane: An American Original (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 16, Summer 1987) [Whole No. 916]. 8-1/2" x 11" softcover, 120 pages, many photos and drawings. Aaron Dodd Crane’s compulsion to invent dominated his life; he received his first patent in 1829 at the age of 25. He partnered with Abraham Spear in 1840 to form the J. R. Mills Company to invent and finance a new concept in clocks: the one-year clock, which would allow a full-year running on one winding. The one-year clock was a success, but sales did not materialize as they had hoped. The Year Clock Company, the successor to J. R. Mills Company, closed its doors in 1848. In 1850 Crane’s first astronomical timepiece appeared. It is known as the Carosel, taking the name from the smooth rotation of the pendulum around the demure figure of a woman mounted to its black marble base. This sensational clock is generally acknowledged to be one of this country’s most unique and beautiful clocks; it is on display at the Smithsonian. For the remainder of his life, Crane redirected his energies to his first love of clock mechanisms and to public or turret clocks. He died in 1860 of tuberculosis. |
Chris H. Bailey, From Rags to Riches to Rags: The History of Chauncey Jerome (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 15, Spring 1986) [Whole No. 915]. 8-1/2" x 11" softcover, 132 pages, and 278 photos.
The title summarizes the life of Chauncey Jerome, who learned from the expert clockmaker Eli Terry and then went on to become the largest clockmaking firm in Bristol, CT, and later in the world. Jerome developed the dwarfed tall clock with modified tall clock movement.
After the near bankruptcy in the depression of 1837, Jerome developed the 30-hour brass clock and was granted a patent for it in 1839. The cheaper brass clock made Chauncey a wealthy man because the clocks were a success. The brass clocks could be shipped farther distances and across the ocean to England without affecting the clock parts, unlike wooden clock parts. Later, Jerome designed an 8-day version of this clock. In 1843 Jerome had four factory buildings in New Haven, CT; unfortunately, almost the entire complex was destroyed by fire on April 23, 1845. This was the beginning of large financial demands on the Jerome Manufacturing Company, which filed for bankruptcy in 1856. Jerome died in April 1868. |
Michael C. Harrold, American Watchmaking: A Technical History of the American Watch Industry 1850-1930 (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 14, Spring 1984) [Whole No. 914]. 8-3/4" x 11-1/4" hardcover, 144 pages, and 210 photos and drawings. A few pioneers established the principles of machine watch manufacture in the first 30 years. There were some failures in this difficult learning stage, but prosperity in the North during the Civil War ushered in a period of expansion. With large numbers of watch manufacturers supplying the overstocked market, competition was fierce; many companies did not survive. During the twentieth century, decline set in. But the Swiss were back. They had been diligently reorganizing their industry, adopting machine manufacture, and learning modern marketing so that they were ready to meet the demands for wristwatches after World War I. |
Chris H. Bailey and Dana J. Blackwell, Heman Clark and the “Salem Bridge” Shelf Clocks (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 13, June 1980) [Whole No. 913]. 6" x 9" softcover, 104 pages, 139 photos.
Heman Clark, an apprentice to Eli Terry, is the force behind the Salem Bridge (now Naugatuck, CT) clocks; his high-quality work was compared with the quality of other clockmakers from about 1816 to 1845. Terry sold his patent for a 30-hour brass shelf clock to Clark. Because of the expense involved in making these brass clocks, Clark redesigned the movement as an 8-day clock. |
Owen H. Burt and Jo Burt, The Welch, Spring & Company (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 12, February 1978) [Whole No. 912]. 6" x 9" softcover, 108 pages, and 125 photos. The Welch, Spring and Company was founded in 1868 by three men: Elisha Niles Welch, the financier; Solomon Crosby Spring, the manager and design engineer, and Benjamin Bennett Lewis, the inventor. At a time when the clock industry was geared only to mass production, these men for a short time were able to bring back quality and craftsmanship to the Bristol, CT, clockmaking industry. |
Richard L. Champlin, William Claggett and His Clockmaking Family (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement, No. 11, Summer 1976) [Whole No. 911]. 6" x 9" softcover, 48 pages, and 30 photos. William Claggett built an organ, made and repaired nautical compasses, was an engraver and a printer, but he achieved the status of Master Craftsman as a clockmaker. The Stanton clock in the Redwood Library is his masterpiece, which features the day-of-the-week slot above the numeral VI and the beautiful japanned case. |
Eugene T. Fuller, The Priceless Possession of a Few: A Brief History of the Gruen Watch Company, Their 50th Anniversary Watch, and Contemporary Prestige Watches (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 10, Winter 1974) [Whole No. 910]. 6" x 9" softcover, 64 pages, and 52 photos. The Gruen Watch Company, founded in 1874, issued a 50th Anniversary Watch in 1924. Their marketing strategy used a booklet titled “The Priceless Possession of a Few.” Each watch came with a signed ownership certificate. The strategy worked, and the watches became a status symbol. Many notable people were proud to own an Anniversary Watch. |
D. H. Shaffer, A Survey History of the American Spring-Driven Clock 1840-1860 (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 9, Winter 1973) [Whole No. 909]. 6" x 9" hardcover, 102 pages, and 72 photos. The spring-driven clock was developed in the 1840s and 1850s during the Yankee period, which the author calls the 80 years between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. There was a growing demand for smaller and cheaper clocks that could be purchased by families of modest means. |
Guy D. Aydlett, A Review of George Graham’s Classic Escapement or Dead-Beat by Design (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 8, Summer 1973) [Whole No. 908]. 6" x 9" softcover, 52 pages, 32 figures and drawings, and several formulas and tables. George Graham invented in the early 1700s the classic dead-beat escapement that is found even today in regulator timepieces with high-quality and timekeeping excellence. This escapement can be identified as an example of a four-bar linkage that contains a built-in bit of nastiness known as a slotted-link. Aydlett includes the geometric drawings and formulas to construct a Graham escapement. |
James W. Gibbs and Robert W. Meader, Shaker Clockmakers (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 7, Summer 1972) [Whole No. 907]. 6" x 9" softcover, 32 pages, and 45 photos. A dogmatic response from a seatmate on a plane flight, who said there never were any Shaker clockmakers, prompted the authors to research the literature to find out if this statement was true. An October 1970 issue of Antiques magazine and the library card catalog at the Shaker Museum in Old Chatham, NY, confirmed that indeed there were Shaker clockmakers. The following were listed: Oliver or Reuben Brackett, Thomas Corbett, Amos Jewett, Granville Merrill, Erastus Rude, Benjamin Youngs, Benjamin Seth Youngs, Isaac Newton Youngs, Calvin Well, and John Winkley. |
Kenneth D. Roberts, Some Observations Concerning Connecticut Clockmaking, 1790-1850 (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 6, Summer 1970) [Whole No. 906]. 6" x 9" softcover, 44 pages, 29 photos. The wooden clock industry developed in Bristol, CT, for the following reasons: Manufacturing was common in the community, water power was readily available for mill sites, traders here had established markets with larger cities, the Farmington Canal enabled transport of raw materials and manufactured goods to and from the New Haven seaport, and many skilled artisans had come to Bristol to join the industry. Documents prove that there were at least 105 clock firms in Bristol from 1810 to 1850. |
Edwin B. Burt Sr. and Fraser R. Forgie, Clockmakers of the Concord, Massachusetts, Community (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 5, Summer 1967) [Whole No. 905]. 6" x 9" softcover, 40 pages, and many photos. The following family names are key figures in the clockmaking industry that began in Concord, MA, after the Revolutionary War: Mulliken, Munroe, Curtis, Whiting, Dunning, and Dyar. Mulliken was a cabinetmaker who made clock cases. The three Munroe brothers made primarily 8-day clocks with brass works and banjo clocks. |
Charles Terwilliger, Elmer Ellsworth Dungan and the Dickory Dickory Dock Clock (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 4, Summer 1966) [Whole No. 904]. 6" x 9" softcover, 28 pages, and 47 pages. In addition to his furniture, jewelry, publishing, and bowling businesses in Philadelphia, PA, Elmer Dungan was a dedicated clock collector. His daughter Emily’s favorite nursery rhyme was “Dickory dickory dock . . .” (There were several versions, and she had learned this one.) Dungan decided to make a clock for her that would do exactly what the jingle described. His prototype of the Mouse Clock worked perfectly, but Models I-III, manufactured by the New Haven Clock Company in 1909 and 1910, failed to keep accurate time. Model IV, patented September 13, 1910, and manufactured by the Sessions Company, was simpler, more reliable, and less costly to manufacture. Shortly after Dungan received this patent, his business partner Charles Klump died suddenly; he lost interest in clocks after that event. Today the Mouse Clock is prized by novelty clock collectors. |
Anthology, Eli Terry—Dreamer, Artisan, and Clockmaker (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 3, Summer 1965) [Whole No. 903]. 6" x 9" softcover, 42 pages, and 32 photos. In 1797 the U.S. Patent Office issued the first clock patent to Eli Terry for an equation brass clock; he received a total of eight patents. Terry is credited with making interchangeable parts and gauges, which enabled him to be one of the principal men who created the American factory system of mass production. In 1808 he attempted the “impossible” task of turning out 1,000 clocks a year; he succeeded! In that same year Terry and Seth Thomas partnered to make clocks: Terry built the machinery and made the wooden movements and Thomas built the cases. Later they produced 6,000 clocks a year and then doubled production to 12,000—all built without the use of nails. |
Miriam A. Barclay, Daniel Pratt, Junior—Reading (Mass.) Clockmaker (NAWCC BULLETIN No. 2, Summer 1964) [Whole No. 902]. 6" x 9" softcover, 23 pages, and 15 photos. Daniel Pratt, Junior (he used Junior only to distinguish himself from another Daniel Pratt in Reading, MA) followed in his father’s shoe-manufacturing business, but later he turned from shoes to manufacture clocks. From 1830 to 1860 his hometown of Reading, MA, was becoming industrialized. His overly large mantel clocks with pillars fit nicely with the empire style of furniture. |
P. L. Small (compiled by F. Earl Hackett), E. Howard: The Man and the Company (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement No. 1, Winter 1962) [Whole No. 901]. 6" x 9" softcover, 18 pages, and photos. P. L. Small in E. Howard: The Man and the Company discusses this nineteenth-century inventor who established the clock- and watch-manufacturing industry in the U.S. Howard was also famous as a scalemaker and served as Deputy Sealer of Weights, Measures, and Balances for Massachusetts for many years. He perfected a method for refining low-grade gold ores, and he manufactured fire engines. |
James W. Gibbs, The Life and Death of the Ithaca Calendar Clock Company (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement, January 1960) [Whole No. 995]. 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" softcover, 84 pages, some photos and drawings. The first calendar clock in America was invented in Ithaca, NY, and was patented by inventor J. H. Hawes in 1853. By 1875 with 60 employees, the Ithaca Calendar Clock Company was producing 30 clocks a day. Fire destroyed the structure on February 12, 1876, but the company restored the building. |
James W. Gibbs, The Dueber-Hampden Story (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement, February 1954) [Whole No. 994]. 6" x 9" softcover, 64 pages, and many photos. John C. Dueber left Germany and came to America with his parents when he was nine years old. Later he was apprenticed to a watchmaker in Cincinnati, OH, for five years. By making wedding bands, he earned some capital, which he used to launch his watch case-making business in 1864. |
James W. Gibbs, From Springfield to Moscow: The Complete Dueber-Hampden Story (NAWCC Bulletin Supplement, June 1986). 6" x 9", 120 pages, 115 photos. This revised edition continues the Dueber-Hampden Story from the 1954 edition. John C. Dueber went into business making watch cases in 1864 in Newport, KY, and later Springfield, MA. Don J. Mozart also first appeared in 1864 in connection with the Mozart Watch Company, which later became the New York Watch Company; this firm failed in 1877. The stockholders reorganized during that year and started the Hampden Watch Company, named for the county in which Springfield, MA, was located. Three prominent personnel were involved in this part of the Dueber-Hampden history and later with the Hamilton watch factory: John C. Perry, an excellent factory manager and watch salesman; Henry J. Cain, renowned watch designer and maker; and Charles D. Rood, outstanding in financial matters. |
Joseph Sternfeld, Hour Glasses (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement, February 1953) [Whole No. 993]. 6" x 9" softcover, 22 pages, and one photo. The sandglass, the former name of the hourglass, cannot be credited to an exact time or place, but an early story tells of a 12-hour sandglass owned by Charlemagne in 807 A.D. The ancient art of glassmaking came to Venice and later to Germany from the Near East. Glassblowing, essential to the quality of the sandglass, was a highly developed art in Venice in the thirteenth century. Another essential ingredient was high-quality sand that was fine enough to ensure regular flow at the same rate. |
Lockwood Barr, Eli Terry Pillar & Scroll Shelf Clocks (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement, 1952) [Whole No. 992]. 6" x 9" hardcover, 16 pages, and 18 photos. Eli Terry was the foremost clockmaker between 1812 and 1837. Terry was the first to make wooden shelf clock movements with identical and therefore interchangeable parts, the first to use machine tools and jigs of his own invention to make those parts, the first clockmaker to drive his machinery with water power instead of man power, and the first to adopt assembly-line production methods. |
Ernest Cramer and Joseph Sternfeld, A Study of Verge Watchcocks and Bridges (NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement, October 1952) [Whole No. 991]. 6" x 9" softcover, 16 pages, and six plates. From about 1500 A.D. the portable timekeeping device known as a watch has existed. Augsburg and Nurnberg were important centers in the watchmaking industry. Peter Henlein, a Nurnberg locksmith, adapted the coil spring to the watch. Early watches were clumsy with cases of gilded brass or bronze and movements of iron. |