2016 March meeting

FABERGÉ CLOCKS

Tim Richman Gadoffre

For our March meeting we are delighted to welcome Tim Richman Gadoffre, an independent applied arts specialist. His talk will explore the techniques used by Fabergé in the design and manufacture of clocks.

Passionate about the history of the applied arts, Tim enjoys working with museum curators and leading arts organisations in the UK, Europe, Russia and the USA. His keen interest is in guilloché enamel, seen in the work of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century goldsmiths.

With his special interest in the design and manufacturing techniques of pre-1918 Fabergé, Tim has built an extensive archive containing records of over 12,000 Fabergé pieces. His research into the firm’s unique know-how, combined with his understanding of Geometry & Proportion, is seen as ground-breaking by other experts in this specialist field.

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Since June 2004, Tim has focused on actualising into reality his passion for fine craftsmanship and tangible manufacturing. Bringing together a team of master craftsmen and independent goldsmiths, he designs and oversees the fabrication of one-off objets d’art and fine jewellery, as well as progressing his R&D into guilloché enamel.

This promises to be an enthralling evening giving a rare insight into the history and world of Fabergé, superbly illustrated with many images from Tim’s personal archive.

2016 February meeting

THE INVENTION AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE WRISTWATCH

Richard Edwards

The bracelet watch for ladies was well over a hundred years old by the First World War but men wore them too! What did they look like? How would you recognize a true early wristwatch from a “conversion” if you came across one today? I hope to shine a light on the early history of the wristwatch which until now has been veiled in legend and misinformation.

Richard Edwards is a semi-retired watch restorer and tutor and sometime Technology teacher. He qualified in watchmaking in 1979 from Hackney College while already working as a teacher.

If you have an early wristwatch known or suspected to be pre-WW1 please bring it along to the meeting.

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2016 January meeting

January 7, 2016

The South London Branch Grand Tour of Switzerland

Grahame Brooks Hon FBHI

We are delighted to open the New Year with a talk by our own Grahame Brooks Hon FBHI on the South London Branch’s “Grand Tour of Switzerland.”

Last May, 18 members including some from Ipswich and Milton Keynes branches left by Swiss flight LX317 to Zurich, in the North East of the country.

The tour planned by Peter Elliott FBHI, with help from the Swiss Travel Service, visited six museums, one major watch manufacturer and a cable car!

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Travelling by coach and staying in excellent hotels, the group’s tour will be retold by Grahame with digital images showing many of the horological treasures, both antique and modern, they were privileged to see. The tour starting from Zurich in the North East, via Neuchatel and La Chaux-de-Fonds, to Geneva in the South West covered some 350 miles.

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Grahame, who retired almost 20 years ago is one of our original Branch members, being No.3!  After a life time in the Watch business, including a year working in Switzerland, he has been a Contributor to Wristwatch and QP magazines, as well as the HJ.

Grahame is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and a Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company.