Approximately
150 members showed up for the
September 12th Meeting and MART. Fifty tables were manned in the
MART area and Eleven tables held silient auction items. As usual,
watches were the big Mart item, with clocks and tools following. We were
pleased to have former National Secretary Nancy Ankrum as a visitor,
having recently moved to the Bay Area.
Chapter business items included noninations for
2005 Board members, and the availability for review of a new set of
Bylaws, the existing set needed some revisions.
Member Ron Bechler was our speaker for the day
giving a presentation on "Specialized and Antique Horology Tools.
Ron started collecting watch specialized tools that were in original
boxes or containers. For the presentation Ron
completely filled two seven foot
Mart tables with hundreds of hand and a few motorized tools. One
corner of one table was stacked
with tool and parts
catalogs. Not all of the tools were in original boxes, Ron's collection
has grown, buying tools
from retired watchmakers
and Regional Marts.
There were too many tools for Ron to describe
everything displayed, he choose "what were these used for"
tools to the delight of the members. Show and tell items brought in by
Price Russ and Seth Finkelstein included a small "Bow
lathe", one for plate broches
, the other with a two jaw chuck to hold odd shaped items, and a manual
screw head polisher.
Ron had a interesting Sear's catalog with many
pages showing watch tools and watch parts. Another was a tool catalog
that he paid to have reproduced, only later finding
the complete catalog at a Regional.
John Stohr, NAWCC 79281