Chapter 8 ended the year 2002 with a meeting at the Holiday in Worcester on November 2. The 250 members and guests were kept busy checking out the 60 vendors in the Mart and participating in two programs, a silent auction, a 50-50 raffle, and a luncheon with a program about a Boston landmark.

But first, a tribute to the loss of an outstanding member of Chapter 8.

At the banquet, Chapter president Bob Frishman had the sad duty to announce the recent passing of John Lelievre in October, a chapter director and longtime volunteer. John will be remembered by us for all his hard work, near-perfect attendance at all chapter activities, and generous assistance to his fellow horologists. Attendees were told, too, that the Charles River Museum of Industry, where John and other chapter volunteers have met most Thursdays to help restore the museums’ horological collection, will name its research library in his honor.

Our first educational program was given by Joe Brown, a Chapter 8 director with a great reputation for his presentations. His talk about ”French Clocks” was delivered to a packed lecture room. Joe had overhead projections, which were also replicated in the handouts to the audience, to clearly show the various parts of the movement. As he described the critical things to look for he also offered suggestions on what should be done to correct a problem. There were numerous follow up questions and a detailed discussion on methods of removing barrel springs and lubrication.

John Losch, another Chapter member, returned again to discuss “Pivot Polishing.” As usual, he brought a wealth of information, aided by slides, and equipment to present this in-depth talk. John had previously published an article on this subject in the December 1999 Bulletin. Starting off with pictures of various types of pivot wear, John covered burnishers, sharpening, types of stone used to sharpen, and polishing with abrasives. He discussed both complicated machinery and simple lathe set-ups to polish the pivots. Even hand techniques were discussed. Various pivot support systems for lathes were shown. There was something there for the professional with a well-equipped shop and also for the starting repairer with very few tools. John was very emphatic, that regardless of how you do it, polishing is a basic step in restoration.

Our luncheon banquet featured a most entertaining and delightful presentation by David Hochstrasser about the Boston Custom House tower clock. The title of his talk should have been “ How two brothers overcame numerous roadblocks and problems in moving and restoring a tower clock.”

The Boston Custom House was built in 1837 to 1847. During the period of 1912 to 1919, a tower was added. The original clock was an electrical impulse type, but had completely disappeared. In 1949 a Howard # 3 tower clock was then added on the top 23rd floor. In 1987, Boston Edison, as a gift to the city, paid for restoring the clock after years of deterioration. David and his brother Ross, both professional clock restorers, and just starting out, were awarded the contract to restore this clock with four 24’ dials and wooden hands. The details of this restoration were given by the two brothers to Chapter 8 a few years later.

In 1995 the Marriott Hotel Corporation took over management of the Custom House. Marriott started to convert the building to condominiums Once again, David and Ross were asked to repair and restore the clock which had been shoved against the north wall of a game /laundry room Marriott had constructed on the 23rd floor. While David had slides to show some of the clock parts and the work that was done to repair them, the main problem was devising hand shafts from 4’ to 36’ to operate a clock that was now up against that north wall.. Despite a less than enthusiastic Marriott, union problems, Boston city bureaucracy in obtaining permits to work on the face, and the need to meet the desires of preservationists and historical groups, the brothers overcame each roadblock, often obtaining help from many other people. They exhibited great ingenuity and clever solutions to the technical and working problems they encountered. They finally finished the job they started in 1996 in July of 1997-probably with a sigh of relief!