There's no substitute for going someplace in person, but over the years Google Street View has made it possible to come pretty close, and now, Street View lets you walk through the National Watch and Clock Museum even if you can't make it to Columbia, Pennsylvania in person.
Fusée and chain pocket watch movement with verge escapement, "pillar and plate" construction, about 1715.
As regular HODINKEE readers are probably aware, the National Watch And Clock Museum is the only museum of its kind in the United States, with a collection of watches and clocks spanning centuries. This is a chance to look through some of the amazing objects in its archives from (as they say) the comfort of your own home ?and just maybe get the motivation you need to make a visit in person, which we can't recommend strongly enough.
French mantle clock, for the Turkish market, made in Paris circa 1880, Arabic-Indic numerals,
Says the Museum: "After almost two years of collaborative efforts between Google and the National Watch and Clock Museum, the Google Cultural Institute opened its 'Google Street View' three dimensional walkthrough of the Museum. The Museum is now one of only 1500 leading museums and heritage sites worldwide (of more than 200,000 museums) selected by Google. This recognition is a reflection of the Museum's role as the preeminent specialized horological museum in the western hemisphere."
ADVERTISEMENT"'The National Watch & Clock Museum is honored to have been chosen to take part in the Google Cultural Institute. We hope that, through this medium, we will be able to reach a global audience with our mission to preserve and interpret our shared horological history,' states Museum Director, Noel Poirier."
"(Google Cultural Institute Street View) takes a visitor just steps inside the main lobby of the National Watch and Clock Museum. Once on the site, after turning left into the short green corridor (between the 'admissions desk?on the left and the 'theatre?on the right) anyone can go through the door of the Museum into all of the exhibit galleries, and examine all of the pieces on display."
"'It's the closest you can get to the center of time without actually being there. In fact, when you visit the Museum with Google Street View you feel like you really are there panoramically traveling all the way from Stonehenge to the Mars Clock!, shares Coordinator of Marketing and Special Events, Kim Craven."
Take the tour right here.
Nawcc National-watch-clock-museum A Unique Roger Smith A Breitling Raquel Welch And An Unusual Angelus Repeater 1253