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The Daytona Beach, Chapter 154, of the
The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. (NAWCC) is
dedicated to preserving the history, art and science of timekeeping (horology). NAWCC is a nonprofit scientific
organization that serves as a unique
educational, cultural, and social resource for its membership and the public at
large.
Our members include hobbyists,
students, educators, casual collectors, clock makers, watch makers, jewelers and
professionals in related retail and
manufacturing trades.
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MEETING SCHEDULE
Third Sunday of each odd numbered
month
(January, March, May, July, September and November)
Doors Open at 8:30 AM
NEXT MEETING & MART
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May 2008 Newsletter
(Click on the following link)
NAWCC - Chapter 154 - May 2008 Newsletter.pdf
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Meeting
and Mart Includes:
Presentation:
Open Discussion and "Show and Tell"
Any member or
guest can bring a horological item and
show and tell about it.
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SILENT AUCTION - Don't throw it out. Bring any horological item in any
condition. What you consider junk may be someone else's treasure.
- Mart Table is included (bring your items to sell or trade.)
- Meeting old friends and making new friends.
- Full Buffet Lunch.
- You are welcome to join us!
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***NOTICE***
'NEW' MEETING PLACE
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REGISTRATION AND DUES
Annual Chapter Dues are $8.00 per year
The Mart and Meeting includes a Full Buffet Lunch for $15.00 per person. This includes a Free Mart Table.
Directions to the Whistle Junction
in South Daytona
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Chapter 154 - In the
News - May 26, 2008
 LOCAL
NEWS -
DeLand
retiree keeps busy with quirky clockwork
Staff Writer
DELAND -- "Retirement is hell," reads a sign on a
shelf in a small outbuilding behind Tom Bransford's
103-year-old home.
News-Journal/PETER BAUER
Tom
Bransford tinkers with a Atmos
timepiece in his DeLand shop
recently. Bransford, a war veteran,
is a master clock repairman and
spends most of his day tinkering
with the old and unique timekeepers.
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It's a little clock workshop -- crowded with
hundreds of chiming, ticking, bim-bamming
timekeepers, from cuckoos to grandfather clocks to
French imported wall dials -- where Bransford, 77,
spends most of his waking hours.
The former career Army pilot and retired
supervisor from the Boise Cascade manufacturing
company who then taught a vocational clock repair
class for 21 years, is most happy there.
His favorites: the Atmos clocks, some worth as
much as $40,000.
An Atmos is perpetual -- doesn't need winding,
but runs by a hermetically sealed capsule filled
with ethyl chloride (gas and liquid) which expands
and contracts with temperature change, Bransford
explained.
"They shipped one from Anchorage, Alaska, that
just came in -- which makes 14 here now to be
fixed," he said. "I have six from individuals in New
Orleans that were presentation clocks. They were
underwater in Katrina. They are government clocks."
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Big Ben, the famed bell tower at
Britain's House of Parliament, has chimed
through freezing winters, fierce storms and
World War II bombing raids.
· The neo-gothic clock
tower is popularly known as Big Ben, though
the name actually refers only to the 13.5
ton bell inside.
· The bell has been
silenced for repairs only four times -- in
1934, 1956, 1990 and 2007. However, the
clock has briefly stopped by accident over
the years due to weather, workmen and even
birds.
· The massive bell,
currently marking its 150th anniversary, was
cast in 1858 and first chimed in July 1859.
Soon after, the bell cracked and was rotated
so that the hammer wouldn't strike the
crack. That same bell, crack and all,
remains in use today.
— Compiled by News
Researcher Janice Cahill |
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SOURCE: News-Journal
research |
The West Virginia native, who doesn't need much
sleep, said the clock obsession didn't begin when he
was serving four years in Germany during a military
career that began in 1953. Although he did buy many
clocks while living there.
He served in Korea after the major conflict there
in the early 1950s and fulfilled two tours in the
Vietnam War before retiring in 1973. His last
military assignment was at the U.S. Army Training
Device Center in Orlando, where he settled after
retirement and took a job with Boise Cascade through
1979.
That's where he was involved with fixing one of
the world's most remarkable timepieces: England's
Big Ben. Boise Cascade was one of only a few
companies with a lathe large enough to create an
8-foot and 12-inch-by-12-inch slide replacement part
for Big Ben, Bransford said.
"I watched while it was made and put the part on
the plane," Bransford said.
While in Orlando, Bransford took a clock-repair
class at a vocational school in Winter Park so he
could fix some of the clocks he bought in Germany.
His interest became so intense that from 1978
through 1999, he taught the class. Then he tried to
retire again.
"I came out to DeLand and bought this old house,
which nobody had lived in for 26 years," Bransford
said. "It was really run down. I said all I wanted
to do was fix one clock a day and work on the
house."
Instead, he fixes six or seven clocks a day --
seven days a week, and that's only the tip of his
mountain of work.
He works on the house occasionally and, in his
free moments, Bransford has been working out daily
at the YMCA since 2001, when he lost 105 pounds
after his quintuple bypass.
"I do take time off to fix the sprinklers, and I
have a son, Bruce, who comes out and helps me when I
have to take a day off to work in the yard,"
Bransford said one recent afternoon.
Recently he took time off from his pressing tasks
to work with his friends Jim Zeisler, 66, a retired
firefighter and clock enthusiast, and Randy Jaye of
Orlando, president of the National Association of
Watch and Clock Collectors of Daytona Beach.
The three took part in a public-clock repair
project, fixing the timepiece in the coquina tower
on the Boardwalk behind the Hilton Hotel.
"The idea was hatched three years ago, and it
took this long to come to fruition," Zeisler said.
While Jaye organized the effort and Zeisler rode
the lift-bucket to work on the clock, Bransford did
much of the behind-the-scene preparation.
"Tom called and sent all kinds of pictures and
information on the restorations he was going to do
on the clock," said Rosie Karg, a spokeswoman for
American Time and Signal. "The system was ancient
and now everything is more compact. He had a lot of
work to do to refit the new pieces to work within
the tower."
But it turns out there's a glitch, which the
association members hope to resolve on Tuesday with
the help of American Time and Signal.
The clock hands are a fraction too long and must
lean out to clear the tower. The tip of the hands on
the clock will be shaved slightly to correct the
problem.
Fixing the problem will take "patience and a good
mechanical mind," he said.
audrey.parente@news-jrnl.com
Video made by the Daytona
Beach News-Journal: "Clock Shop" featuring
Chapter 154 member: Tom Bransford
Click on the following link:
"Clock
Shop" Video - Tom Bransford - Daytona Beach
News-Journal - May 2008
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Chapter 154 - In the
News - April 14, 2008
News-Journal/Nigel Cook
Hobbyist Jim Zeisler of Daytona Beach, left, and expert clockmaker
Tom Bransford of Deland hold replacement hands for the clock tower on
the Boardwalk. The hands are just a bit too long and Bransford is
working on the problem.
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Saving the sands of time
Staff Writer
"Retirement is hell," reads a sign in a small home business run by a
spunky DeLand retiree. One might say Tom Bransford has too much time on
his hands; but not for a lack of something to do. Just the opposite. The
77-year old former career Army pilot who also retired from the Boise
Cascade manufacturing company, and then taught a vocational clock repair
class for 21 years - fixes six or seven clocks a day. Seven days a week.
"I do take time off to fix the sprinklers, and I have a son, Bruce, who
comes out and helps me when I have to take a day off to work in the
yard," Bransford said during an interview in the clock-crowded shop
behind his historic 103-year old house -- also an on-going fixer-upper
project in his life.
In his free moments, Bransford has been working out at the YMCA since
2001, when he lost 105 pounds after his quintuple bypass.
The West Virginia native, who doesn't need much sleep, said the clock
obsession didn't begin when he was serving four years in Germany during
a military career that began in 1953. Although he did buy many clocks
while over there. He served in Korea after the major conflict there in
the early 1950s and fulfilled two tours in the Vietnam War before
retiring in 1973. His last military assignment was at the U.S. Army
Training Device Center in Orlando, where he settled after retirement and
took a job with Boise Cascade through 1979. While in Orlando, Bransford
took a clock-repair class at a vocational school in Winter Park so he
could fix some of the clocks he bought in Germany. His interest became
so intense that from 1978 through 1999, he taught the class. Then he
tried to retire again. "I came out to DeLand and bought this old house,
which nobody had lived in for 26 years," Bransford said. "It was really
run down. I said all I wanted to do was fix one clock a day and work on
the house."
But clocks poured in and he found it hard to say no -- hence a shop
crowded with hundreds of chiming, ticking, bim-bamming time-keepers,
from cuckoos to grandfather clocks to French imported wall clocks. His
favorites: the Atmos clocks, some worth as much as $40,000. An Atmos is
perpetual -- doesn't need winding, but runs by a hermetically sealed
capsule filled with ethyl chloride (gas and liquid) which expands and
contracts with temperature change. "They shipped one from Anchorage,
Alaska, that just came in -- which makes 14 here now to be fixed,"
Bransford said. "I have six from individuals in New Orleans that were
underwater in Katrina. They are government clocks."
Probably one of the most remarkable timepieces Bransford was
connected with fixing: Big Ben. He was working at Boise Cascade -- one
of only a few companies with a lathe large enough to create an 8-foot
and 12-inch by 12-inch slide -- when the replacement part for Big Ben
was made and shipped to England. "I watched while it was made and put
the part on the plane," Bransford said.
Recently Bransford took a much bigger part of a public clock repair
project -- as a volunteer -- fixing the clock in the coquina clock tower
behind the Hilton Hotel. The landmark once dominated the World's Most
Famous Beach as part of a Works Progress Administration creation
constructed in 1936. The WPA created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
was a New Deal agency that employed millions of Americans affected by
the Great Depression. The early construction included a promenade,
arcade booths and a band shell and the towering clock, visible above
most everything else in the area. Most of the WPA construction was
demolished in favor of new development in the late 1970s.
"Bird droppings and salt corrosion had ruined the clock, the dials,
and it wasn't running," said Randy Jaye of Orlando, president of the
National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors of Daytona Beach.
Kathleen Oprian, spokesman for Bird-X Inc. of Chicago, a manufacturer
of bird deterrent products, said it's no surprise that bird poop stopped
the clock, since "bird droppings are extremely corrosive." To help solve
the problem city workers built a new stainless steel mount in the tower,
and Jaye, Bransford and Jim Zeisler of Daytona Beach worked with the
city to replace parts to retrofit the historic clock. Bransford acquired
new motors, hands and other parts from the American Time and Signal Co.
of Minnesota, using his own account to get a discount, which brought the
project in at about half the initial $5,000 budget. "Tom called and sent
all kinds of pictures and information on the restorations he was going
to do on the clock,' said Rosie Karg, a spokeswoman for American Time
and Signal. "The system was ancient and now everything is more compact.
He had a lot of work to do to refit the new pieces to work with the
tower."
"I am so darned glad it's over," said Zeisler, 66, a retired
firefighter from Columbus, Ohio. "The idea was hatched three years ago,
and it took this long to come to fruition."
But it turns out there's a glitch which the association members hope
to resolve with the help of American Time and Signal. The hands are a
fraction too long and must lean out to clear the tower. "You can't just
cut them off because they have to be counterbalanced," said Bransford.
Fixing the problem with take "patience and a good mechanical mind," he
said. He's working on the problem -- and will take care of it when he
has a little more time on his hands.
Note: On Tuesday, May 27, 2008 the
city of Daytona Beach brought a bucket lift truck to the coquina Clock
Tower and lifted Jim Zeisler to remove the minute hands on all four
dials. Tom Bransford cut and shaved the ends of the minute hands, and
then Jim Zeisler re-attached the hands on all four dials. Now all four
clocks are running smoothly and keeping synchronized time.
--Randy Jaye--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
News-Journal/Nigel Cook
At left is a file photo of the clock tower as it looked in 1976,
before it was dwarfed by hotels and condos. At right is a current photo
showing the clock tower and some of its environs. |
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Chapter 154 - In the
News - March 22, 2008
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LOCAL
NEWS -
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N-J |
Nigel Cook
Local clock expert Jim Zeisler places new hands on the
clock tower Friday on the boardwalk in Daytona Beach.
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Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- A coquina clock
tower, once the dominant landmark on the World's Most Famous
Beach, has been in serious need of a makeover.
But
with a $5,000 commitment from the city, volunteer clock experts
replaced the 70-year-old timepiece Friday.
"Bird
droppings and salt corrosion had ruined the clock, the dials,
and it wasn't running," said Randy Jaye of Orlando, president of
The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors of
Daytona Beach.
Jaye
said Tom Bransford, a nationally recognized watchmaker from
DeLand who once worked on London's Big Ben, removed the clock
motor in January.
Bransford said the old motor might be refurbished and placed in
the Halifax Historical Society Museum but wasn't sure. City
offices were closed Friday.
Bransford acquired new motors, hands and other parts from the
American Time and Signal Co. of Minnesota, using his own account
to get a discount, which brought the project in at about half
the budget.
City
workers built a new stainless steel mount for the clock in the
tower, which was part of a 1936 Work Progress Administration
creation. The WPA, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
was a New Deal agency that employed millions of Americans
affected by the Great Depression.
The
early construction included a promenade, arcade booths and a
band shell, but most of the construction was demolished in favor
of new development in the late 1970s. The clock tower --
officially dedicated in 1938 -- was preserved, along with the
band shell.
In
1980, the local clock association rescued the clock, which had
clogged up from bird droppings. A rededication occurred in 1989.
In
1999, the structure was listed with the National Register of
Historic Places.
Clock
expert Jim Zeisler of Daytona Beach joined Bransford and Jaye in
the most recent restoration project.
"I am
so darned glad it's over," Zeisler said. "The idea was hatched
three years ago, and it took this long to come to fruition."
Jaye
said the clock restoration is not the end of the makeover.
Additional work on the tower by the city will include draining
and restoring the fountain and installing two ventilation vents
to circulate air around the new clock motors.
But a
key change must be continuing maintenance and keeping pigeons
and other birds out of the Clock Tower and away from the
clockworks, Jaye said.
"It
looks great," Bransford said. "And this time it should last
forever."
audrey.parente@news-jrnl.com
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Chapter
154 Custom-Made Polo Shirts (Very High Quality including embroidery with
1400 stitches)
Pricing:
$25.00 (Sizes:
S, M, L, XL)
$27.00 (Size: 2XL)
$28.00 (Size: 3XL)
Made by: GILDAN Active Wear
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SIZE
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SHIRT COLOR:
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Contact Information (Chapter 154 - Daytona Beach)
Chapter Officers (2008)
President:
Randy Jaye
Secretary/Treasurer:
Viviane Lindeolsson
Vice-President: Jesse McKnight
Director: Ed Epp
Director:
Tom Bransford
- Chapter Contact Telephone:
- (386) 439-2459 (Ed Epp)
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- Electronic mail (email)
- General Information: Ed Epp -
gaspump@cfl.rr.com
- Web Administrator: Randy Jaye -
1970hemicuda@comcast.net
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