Horology

Horology is the study of the science and art of timekeeping devices. Clocks, watches, and marine chronometers are examples of instruments used to measure time.

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 Pa. and the American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol CT.

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

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 organisations, both professional associations and more scholarly societies.

The leading scholarly horological organisations for non-professionals are:

• 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 fur 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 CT, USA
• British Horological Institute, Upton UK
• Clockmakers' Museum, London, UK
• Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Germany
• 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 Museum, Grafton, MA, 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, USA
• Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
• Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France
• Science Museum (London), UK
• Wallace Collection, London, UK

Institutions

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

Newsgroup

• alt.horology

Others

• Timezone
• UTC

External links

• American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute
• BHI - The British Horological Institute
• 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)
• NAWCC - Horological Science Chapter
• Horology Patents
• NAWCC Internet Chapter 185
• The Horology Source
• A Rudimentary Treatise on Clocks, Watches and Bells by Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, 1903, from project Gutenberg
• Timezone
• WATCHEPEDIA An unfiltered source of information, press releases and commentary about timepieces.