Chapter 24's June 6 meeting was the first in the new location, the brand new Mountain Park Aquatic Center. The facility is large with better lighting, and even the chairs were nicer, being padded.
The room was quickly set up for the mart, featuring a number of clocks and bits & pieces from which the members could pick and choose. The smaller timepieces in the mart ranged from the lowliest 18-size, 7-jewel parts movement to several high grade railroad watches.
We had our usual auction by Brooks Coleman, our resident auctioneer. It’s always exciting. You never know what you may get to take home with you. Brooks managed to auction a few choice pieces for the members. The most noteworthy was a woodworks column shelf clock with a very rare label reading "T.E. Suggs, Waterbury South Carolina."
After the auction, the meeting was called to order by President, Bernie Tekippe, who then welcomed and introduced our many guests. Treasurer Bob Booth, who watches over such things (and is very good at it), reported that Chapter 24's membership is growing.
It was announced that the 16th Mid-South Regional will be in Chattanooga on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-4, 2004. The banquet and auction would be held Fri. night, September 3. The exhibits will focus on Ithaca Calendar clocks and Studebaker and South Bend watches. Chapter 24 will be hosting the Mid-South Regional next year in 2005. Carol Tekippe and Renee Coulson will co-chair the event.
The topic of the Watch Focus Group was “Dollar Watches.” There were many on display, all worth more than a dollar now. Thank heaven for collectors. Some of the more interesting examples were an Ansonia, an Ingraham Secometer, A British-made "Rail Master" (complete with marginal minute dial) and an Ingersol Mickey Mouse wristwatch.
Our June program was presented by Bernie Tekippe, "Quest For Precise Time." Bernie quickly traced the history of precision timekeeping from the British Parliament's 1714 prize of £20,000 for determining longitude, to the post WWII atomic clocks. He then discussed his own quest for an accurate mechanical clock, describing his Isochronous Regulator. Bernie's version 2004 will be a topic and presentation at the 25th Annual Ward Francillon Time Symposium, in Portland, Oregon, in October of this year. His Isochronous Regulator has achieved an accuracy measured in thousandths of a second, down to the point where the accuracy of the standard against which it is compared has become significant.