Time & Exploration: Earth, Sea, & Space

Exploration has always depended on effective navigation. Early navigators turned to the skies and nature to find their way on the surface of the earth. Modern navigators have once again turned to the skies, for different reasons and with different tools, to pinpoint their location on earth and in space.

Explorers of all eras need to accurately navigate and document the locations of their discoveries. Technological advancements have affected methods for doing so over the ages. Exploration will present timepieces, navigational instruments and explorer’s stories, both modern and historical, to discover how navigation has changed and the importance time and timepieces have  in determining one’s location.

In 2009, this exhibit will be located at the  National Watch and Clock Museum. This museum  was officially opened to the public in 1977 with fewer than 1,000 items. Since that time, the collection has increased to over 12,000 items and the museum has undergone several expansion projects.  The latest expansion opened in October 1999 and featured an entirely new and redesigned exhibit space, as well as a new two-story addition.  Today, the museum is recognized as the largest and most comprehensive horological collection in North America.

The Museum collection is international in scope and covers a wide variety of clocks, watches, tools, and other time-related items.  The main focus of the collection is on nineteenth-century American clocks and watches.  However, additional collections include early English Tallcase clocks, Asian timepieces from Japan and China, and timekeeping devices from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Russia.  Chronologically, the exhibits take you on a tour through the entire history of timekeeping technology from early non-mechanical devices to today’s atomic and radio controlled clocks.

Want to learn more about keeping time? Check out the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors.