Newsletter May 2007

The meeting of May 14 opened at 8 PM sharp.  In attendance were: Bill Miller, Dave Grau, Jack Kennan, Dan Spath, Jerry Kincaid, Stan Craig, Earl Knight, George Painter, George Tresansky, Al Takatch, John Reilly, Jack Bishop, Don Buck and Brett Louis.

Introductions were made and the Treasurer’s Report was accepted as was the Secretary’s Report.  It was stated that we have 23 dues paying members at this time.

Old Business: Dan reported that our obligations for the National Meeting to be held in Maryland in 2010 will probably be limited to finding a meeting place, hotels and points of interest to visit, but that he will know more after the August meeting.

HAM’s official place for meetings and workshops will be the Howard Co. Senior Center starting with the next workshop on June 11.  Please note that we elected to have both the meetings and workshops begin at 7:30 PM. Meetings used to start at 8 PM. We scheduled an all-day meeting for the Autumnal Equinox (Sept. 23, a Sunday) from noon to 5 PM at the Sr. Center. We briefly discussed having the Board of Directors meeting in December at the Sr. Center as well.

On the topic of trips: We decided to take a trip to the NAWCC museum and school in Columbia PA on Sunday June 24^th.  The museum opens at 12 noon on Sunday. Feel free to bring your spouse. Don Buck volunteered to report to Dave on the availability of a NAWCC host to show us the school.  However, even if that doesn’t pan out we will go to the museum.  We will talk about the details at the June 11 workshop.  Apparently the Hermle factory in Virginia is no longer giving tours of the facility so we can nix that trip.

New Business:

George Painter brought up the subject of having another workshop on quartz watch repair.  The subject was received well and we voted to have the July 9 lecture after the meeting devoted to quartz repair techniques, followed by some hands on repairs of a bunch of quartz watches now in George’s possession at the following workshop on July 23^rd.   Stan will oversee the repairs and we will have the HAM timer on duty to time out the repaired watches.  It was suggested that we may sell the repaired watches at the fall Woodsboro Mart.

Stan mentioned that the Casker automatic mainspring remover that was $150.00 is now reduced to $60.00, quite a bargain if you are interested.

Dan reported that one of our founding members, Bob Myers, is not in good health.  Bob was the HAM photographer and Jerry still has many of the early pictures of our lectures and workshops.  The association will probably do something to organize them into a coherent chronology of the HAM at some point.  Meanwhile, we voted to elect Bob to be an Honorary Lifetime Member and to send him a basket of fruit to let him know that we are thinking of him.  We will keep Bob on our mailing list so he can keep up with what’s cooking at HAM.  We take this time to thank Bob for his efforts on behalf of the Association and wish him well.

The door drawing was won by Bob Rothen and the meeting was adjourned around 9 PM.

After the meeting Stan and Bob Rothen brought out some oversize models of shock absorber systems used in watches over the years.  Shock systems are used to dampen the stress on the pivots of a watch when it receives a sudden shock, as when dropped.  It allows the cap jewel to give a little and then bounce back.  The most common shock system now seen on modern watches is the Swiss Inca Block system.  Stan demonstrated how to take it apart without damaging the often delicate retainer spring and some of the other things that can go wrong.  He covered cleaning and oiling the two piece jewel retained by the shock absorber and reassembly procedures. 

At the next workshop on June 11 Stan will continue the replacement of a clock tooth.  After this he will discuss the various jewel setting types (friction and screw-in).  Jewel replacement is essential knowledge for watch repair as jewels often are damaged.  Stan will bring the equipment to install friction jewels as well as his collection of jewels.  Anyone having a watch with need of a jewel is urged to bring it along and we will practice the replacement procedures.

Tip from John Kuntz:  Saving old brass keys may unlock a new source for brass of various thicknesses needed in clock repairs.  The brass is usually high quality and can be used for missing teeth, bushings, small parts etc., and best of all – it’s free.

John Reilly will bring two boxes of watch and clock materials to the June 11 workshop.  They are mystery boxes and will be raffled off.  Each of the boxes is guaranteed to contain at least $30 worth of materials.  Tickets will sell for $1.00 each and the proceeds will go the HAM treasury.  As I need boxes for packing up for Colorado, each person is urged to bring a box or two to the meeting that way the two precious boxes with materials won’t be missed by John’s wife.  See you June 11.

Regards, John Reilly