NAWCC
Displays at the NAWCC Museum
Headquartered at an expansive museum and library campus
in central Pennsylvania, the NAWCC hosts and directs numerous regional conventions and interactive events as a service to its
membership and the public, including regional marts, which are
planned gatherings where members can buy, sell, or swap horological items. Marts take place at chapter meetings, regional meetings,
or at the annual NAWCC National Convention, and are widely acknowledged as important destinations among horological collectors
throughout the nation.
73 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT TO
DISCERNING COLLECTORS
The NAWCC was founded in the autumn of 1943 when three
horological enthusiasts— L.D. Stallcup, Jesse E. Coleman, and
Robert Franks—informally envisioned a private club for fellow
aficionados under the humble name The Watch Collectors Club. To
launch the budding organization they sent typewritten invitations
to potential members from around the country, asking them to join.
By November 7, 1943, they had attracted fifty-two charter members
and formally renamed the organization The National Association of
Watch and Clock Collectors.
Officers were soon selected, and the first geographical chapter
of the NAWCC was established in Philadelphia, followed by a
second Chapter in New York. The first meeting of the NAWCC was
held October 28, 1944, at the Engineers Club in Philadelphia, with
27 members present. That number swiftly grew as the organization
expanded nationally and, eventually, globally.
In the early years of the NAWCC, officers conducted busi-
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ness from their homes. Although the Association had no official
headquarters until 1962, the NAWCC’s home base was Columbia,
PA, where longtime association secretary Earl Strickler established
offices for the organization at his home. It eventually expanded into
a permanent office building at its present location at 514 Poplar
St. in Columbia. That move led to the formal establishment of the
National Watch and Clock Museum and the NAWCC Library and
Research Center.
The National Watch and Clock Museum officially opened to
the public in 1977. Since then, the collection has expanded to more
than 12,000 items and is now recognized as the largest and most
comprehensive horological collection in North America.
Located in the same building, the NAWCC-sponsored Library
and Research Center is one of the largest horological libraries in
the world. The collection consists of more than 30,000 books, catalogs, periodicals, and other multimedia resources.
Also occupying a prominent place on the NAWCC campus is
the NAWCC School of Horology, designed to provide training in
traditional and modern watch and clock
repair. The facility originally opened in
1995 and has four fully equipped rooms
for clock and watch repair classes. For
many years it was licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed
Schools and accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and
Colleges of Technology with a full-time
staff, providing a year-round curricu-