National Watch and Clock Museum facts for kids
The National Watch and Clock Museum (often called NWCM) is a special place in Columbia, Pennsylvania. It's one of the only museums in the United States completely focused on horology. Horology is the study of how we tell time, the science behind it, and the art of making timekeeping devices.
The museum is run by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC). This is a group that doesn't make a profit and aims to teach people about clocks and watches.
Discovering Time's Story
The National Watch and Clock Museum started in 1977. Since then, it has gathered a huge collection of items related to time. This includes many different kinds of clocks and watches, along with the tools and machines used to make them. It has become a very important place for learning about timekeeping.
Many famous and important clocks and watches are often found in big art museums, like the British Museum in London or the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Others are in science museums, like the Smithsonian Institution. But there are only a few museums, like the NWCM, that focus mainly on the history of timekeeping. Most of these smaller museums are in places where clocks were once made, so they often focus on local history.
The NWCM is seen as the most complete museum about timekeeping in the United States. This is especially true since the "Time Museum" in Illinois closed in the 1990s. (Another museum, the American Clock & Watch Museum in Bristol, Conn., mainly shows clocks and watches made in America).
The museum is located near the Susquehanna River in a popular tourist area called Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It welcomes everyone, from families and young people to serious collectors who love learning about timepieces.
Amazing Exhibits
The museum aims to show the entire history of timekeeping. You can see everything from the very first ways people told time, like sundials (which use the sun's shadow) and hourglasses (which use sand), to modern atomic clocks and the wristwatches we wear today. The museum has over 12,000 clocks and watches in its collection, with about 3,000 of them on display for visitors to see.
How Clocks Work
There's a "Learning Center" where you can discover the basic ideas behind mechanical timekeepers. You can learn about things like the pendulum (the swinging weight in a clock) and different types of clock escapements (the parts that make the clock tick).
Special Collections
The museum has a wonderful collection of American-made tall case clocks, which are often called "grandfather clocks." You can also see a wide range of American watches and a small but excellent display of the automatic machines used to make watches.
Other cool things to see include:
- An exhibit on the amazing machines developed by the American Waltham Watch Company. These machines were the first to mass-produce watches using parts that could be swapped out easily.
- A large collection of American pocket watches, including special Railroad watches used by train workers.
- The famous "Engel Clock." This huge and complex clock was built by Stephen Decatur Engle of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. It took him about 20 years to finish! The clock was shown all over the United States starting around 1877. It disappeared in the early 1950s but was found in a barn in New York State in 1983. The NAWCC bought and fixed up the Engel Clock in 1989, and now you can see it at the museum.
The NWCM also has new temporary exhibits that change regularly. These often include one show for the general public and another more specialized one for serious collectors.
