North Coast Imports, Inc.

Bill Hammack, the Engineer Guy, gives us a great video on how a quartz movement works: [via Makezine ]

This post is a bit late, but is interesting enough to read anyway. J. Edwards at Tick Talk gives a nice history of the tradition of dropping the ball on New Year's Eve. Here is an excerpt: Although it’s arguably the most famous of ball drops, the concept of dropping a ball from a pinnacle point in the city to mark a precise point in time isn’t a Times Square first. The practice dates back almost 100 years earlier than the first Times Square ball drop. Initially conceived by Robert Wauchope, of England, time balls were used to synchronize the deck watches and ship chronometers of Navy vessels, who depended on accurate timekeepers to help them navigate longitudinally. Learn more about methods to discover Longitude on our blog here or on our / museum website

One of the great things about collecting clocks is that you have an artifact of history - in this way, you can participate in some of the most important developments in the human experience. This blog has always focused on timekeeping, as well as mechanical musical devices and automata, but I wanted to take the space of a short post to pass on this image. It struck me as a ghostly presence, a window into history. This is a photograph of Boulevard du Temple in Paris was made in 1838 by Louis Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype process of photography. It is likely the first photograph of a human being. Just think of it - 1838 - well before the American Civil War, well before the American transcontinental railroad... it's hard to imagine what life was like at that time, so it's a real treat to have an actual photograph. [via designcrave.com ]

We've been busy updating our website again. With so many new creations it's hard to keep up! Stop by our YouTube channel to see lots more videos of our fine watches. We've also got new detail pictures of the watches, for example: Also, as any true artist is likely to do, our carver Christophe has slightly changed the beautiful design of the very popular Long Bahnhäusle. Check out the new pictures and movie here. If you don't already own one of these fine pieces, now would be a great time to invest in one. They are made in very limited production and each is a masterpiece.

Thanks to Juan Pablo Cambariere's comment we have a new video of his exhibition of Automata: Siete Ejercicios Básicos from Juan Pablo Cambariere on Vimeo .

The following is a diagram of the Hermle mechanism w0340. This depicts the top of the movement, around the balance wheel and escapement. Turn the Regulating spindle in very small increments (less than 1/16th of a turn) to adjust the timekeeping. Turning the spindle clockwise will slow the clock down, counter-clockwise will speed the clock up. Be sure to reset the hands each time you make an adjustment. Our Sternreiter Brahms tambour and Sloan bracket clocks are equipped with a manual shut-off lever for the chimes.

[via The Long Now Blog ]