Our Fall 2009 Meeting was hosted by the Montellas in San Gabriel on the morning of September 19th.
Following a brief "bruncheon" meeting prepared by Karen Montella, we caravaned a mile North to the Huntington for a guided tour of the estate. An excellent virtual tour with the chapter members is available at the URL below. Just click your mouse on the URL here. http://picasaweb.google.com/murphystev/92009133Meeting#slideshow/5384509513764405970
It has been assembled by our chapter photographer, Steve Murphy.
At the left, one of the many clocks we observed is this fine English Balloon style clock of the late 1700's by Thos. Weeks. Over fourteen inches tall, the clock cased in gilt gesso wood, the movement is a double fusee type with dead-beat escapement beating half-seconds. (120 BPM) The movement of the clock is said to be one of the finest at the Huntington in terms of movement quality. The clock at the right is just one of many you can view on the slide show of more clocks of the Huntington.
More about clocks of the Huntington in a separate Chapter News item.
In total, candid snapshots of eleven clocks of the Huntington Collection are illustrated with the maintenance notes provided by John (Jack) Hegeman. Although none of the clocks are battery or electric, they are priceless works of art. Unusual for museums, these clocks are kept running and wound regularly by the museum personnel. Click on the URL below to view as an Adobe pdf file.