horologist n : someone who makes or repairs watches [syn: watchmaker, horologer]

English

Etymology

horolog(y) + -ist

Noun

1. A person; someone who makes or repairs watches or clocks.

Synonyms

• watchmaker, horologer

Translations

Horology (from Greek ώρα, "hour, time"; and λόγος, logos, "study, speech"; lit. the study of time) is the art or science of measuring time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, and marine chronometers are examples of instruments used to measure time.

People interested in horology are called horologists. That term is used both by people who deal professionally with timekeeping apparatus (watchmakers, clockmakers), as well as aficionados and scholars of horology. Horology and horologists have numerous organizations, both professional associations and more scholarly societies.

Horological libraries

Horology has a long history and there are many museums and several specialised libraries devoted to the subject. An example is the Royal Greenwich Observatory, which is also the source of the Prime Meridian (longitude 0° 0' 0"), and the home of the first marine timekeepers accurate enough to determine longitude (made by John Harrison). One of the more comprehensive museums dedicated to horology is the Musée international d'horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland). One of the better horological museums in Germany is the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum. The two leading specialised horological museums in North America are the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and the American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol, Connecticut.

One of the most comprehensive horological libraries open to the public is the National Watch and Clock Library in Columbia, PA (USA).

Horological organizations

The leading scholarly horological organizations are:

• American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute - AWCI (United States of America)
• Antiquarian Horological Society - AHS (United Kingdom)
• Association Française des Amateurs d'Horlogerie Ancienne - AFAHA (France)
• British Horological Institute - BHI (United Kingdom)
• Chronometrophilia (Switzerland)
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie - DGC (Germany)
• HORA Associazione Italiana Cultori di Orologeria Antica (Italy)
• National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors - NAWCC (United States of America)

See also

People

• Abraham Louis Bréguet
• Aaron Lufkin Dennison
• Rupert Gould
• John Harrison
• Bruce Alvin Kock
• Jens Olsen
• Richard of Wallingford
• Simon Willard

Professions

• clockmaker
• watchmaker

Museums (dedicated to horology)

• American Clock and Watch Museum, Bristol, Connecticut, USA
• British Horological Institute, Upton UK
• Clockmakers' Museum, London, UK
• Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Germany
• House of Clocks, the, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Museum fũr Uhren und Mechanische Music, Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland
• Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle, Le Locle, Switzerland
• Musée international d'horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
• National Watch and Clock Museum, Columbia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Royal Observatory, Greenwich, UK
• Städtisches Uhrenmuseum,Schulhof Wien, Austria
• Sydney Horological Centre, Sydney, Australia
• Uhrenindustriemuseum, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany
• Uhrenmuseum Bayer, Zurich, Switzerland
• Willard House and Clock Museum, Grafton, Massachusetts, USA
• Irish Swiss Institute of Horology, Dublin

Museums (not specialized in horology, but displaying major horological collections)

• Boerhaave Museum, Leiden, Netherlands
• British Museum, London, UK
• Deutsches Museum, Munchen, Germany
• Frick Collection, New York City, USA
• Metropolitan Museum, New York City, USA
• Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France
• Science Museum (London), UK
• Wallace Collection, London, UK
• St Edmundsbury Heritage Service , Bury St Edmunds UK

Institutions

• American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute, USA
• Antiquarian Horological Society, UK
• British Horological Institute, UK
• Chronometrophilia, Switzerland
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie, Germany
• NAWCC, USA
• National Watch and Clock Library, USA
• Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, Switzerland
• Canadian Horological Society, Canada

Newsgroup

• alt.horology

Others

• System time

External links

• American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute
• BHI - The British Horological Institute
• Horological Portal
• Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
• Musée d'horlogerie du Locle (Château des Monts)
• Musée International d'Horlogerie
• NAWCC: National Association of Watch & Clocks Collectors (USA)
• Horology Patents
• A Rudimentary Treatise on Clocks, Watches and Bells by Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, 1903, from project Gutenberg
• Application horlogère