IN MEMORIAM | IN MEMORY OF | IN HONOR OF

Archie B. Perkins (1923-2017)

T he world of horology has lost an icon with the passing of the legendary Archie B. Perkins. Watchmaker,

clockmaker, author, educator, drafts-man, and technical writer, he finished his earthly tasks on January 26, 2017, in Denver, CO. During a lifetime of many exceptional accomplishments, Archie left an indelible imprint on horology worldwide. Showered by vir-tually every possible technical award for his watch and clock knowledge, Archie’s contributions have been recorded for posterity through his many written publications.

Born October 31, 1923, in Frances, KY, Archie was one of five brothers and two sisters who lost their mother when Archie was but age three. Times were hard and during the Great Depression the family struggled economically. Working in fluorspar mines and several different farms, the family lived on what-ever work their father could find. In February 1939, when Archie was age 15, he began his lifelong voca-tion repairing watches and clocks, first working from his home and later starting and operating a small repair shop in nearby Lola, KY. During the next four years he gained more knowledge and experience in his chosen field. As World War II continued, Archie was drafted in March 1943 into the Army Medical Corps where he served until his discharge.

Upon return to civilian life, Archie took up watch-making work in Nashville, TN, and shortly thereafter began technical training at the Elgin Watchmakers’ Institute in Elgin, IL. It was during this time he caught the eye of William H. Samelius, the Institute’s direc-tor. Samelius later asked Archie to begin teaching watchmakers, even while he was completing his own training program. In 1946 Archie was recommended to be an instructor at the American Academy, School of Horology in Denver, CO, where Orville Hagans was the director. They worked together for the next year and a half before Archie moved on, first return-ing to the trade, then to the Emily Griffith Opportunity School (now the Emily Griffith Technical College), also in Denver. He remained there for the next 32 years until his retirement from teaching in 1983. During this time he was selected as Vocational Educator of the Year by the Denver Public Schools.

Archie is best known and remembered for his technical writing and drawing skills. His 232 articles published

in the “Technically Watches” series of the Amer-ican Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute

(AWCI) Horological Times, established him as a worldwide authority. A prolific author, his published books cover a span of nearly 30 years. His first book, which was coauthored by George C. Lucchina and published in 1987, is The Watchmakers’ Staking Tool. This was fol-

lowed by his 394-page book, The Mod-ern Watchmakers Lathe and How to Use It,

which was published by the AWCI in 2003. Archie’s capstone 298-page book, Antique

Watch Restoration: Volume I, was also published by the AWCI in 2012. Because of the great interest and demand for this volume, the AWCI published in 2015 his next book, the 282-page Antique Watch Resto-ration: Volume II. Archie’s next and final book, Antique Watch Restoration, Volume III, is expected to be pub-lished in 2017, again by the AWCI.

A 53-year NAWCC member, his awards are both prestigious and voluminous: an NAWCC Fellow since 1980, Craft Member of the British Horological Insti-tute in 1986, a BHI Fellow in 1995, Certified Master Watchmaker since 1955, a Horological Institute of America Director and Regional Vice President, and with service on the American Watchmakers Institute’s Board of Directors. In 2014 Archie was presented the NAWCC Golden Circle Award, achieving 50 years of continuous membership.

A gifted and mechanically minded technician, Archie was frequently called upon by watch repairers and friends to make parts for watches (and clocks, too) when they were out of production or were otherwise no longer available. As many of his peers have said, “He could fix anything.” After suffering a stroke in 2012, the physical aspects of watch repair became much more difficult for Archie. However, he redou-bled his emphasis on his lifelong passion for technical writing and drawing until he was 93 years old.

A devoted family man, Archie leaves behind his daughter Judy L. Perkins, son Richard A. Perkins, and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Daphene (Langford) Perkins in 2005.

His many friends and horological colleagues in the NAWCC, AWCI, Chapter 21 (Denver), and Chapter 160 (Boulder) will profoundly miss him and the wise counsel he gave to all of us.

—John E. Bartos (CO)

www.nawcc.org NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin • May | June 2017 • 283

IN MEMORIAM | IN MEMORY OF | IN HONOR OF

Berthold Schaaf 1942-2016Berthold Schaaf was the foremost living scholar and author regarding the history of Black Forest clock making in Germany.

He was born in 1942 in Kinzigtal, a valley in the central part of the Black Forest region. In his teenage years he was a musical prodigy who founded and led a youth choir.

During his university years Schaaf became enchanted with local antique fur-niture. He financed his hobby by becoming a part-time antiques restorer, later specializing in and collecting clocks. In 1978 he organized his first exhibit of Black Forest clocks in the Ritterhaus Museum in Offenburg, GER, and the accompanying catalog was his first publication.

By age 40 he had decided to switch careers from teaching to studying and restoring Black Forest clocks as well as being a dealer of such artifacts. From 1996 to 2010 he also served as a court-appointed expert on Black Forest and wooden geared clocks.

By 1984 Schaaf published his first scholarly book titled Schwarzwalduhren (Black Forest clocks), one of the first publications on the subject where conclusions were presented through copious illustrations and derived from precise object descriptions rather than the repetition of local legends. Unlike most dealers and restorers, Schaaf throughout his career always shared his analysis through publications, a fact noted in the review of his 1984 book by fellow clock scholar Helmut Kahlert.

Schaaf, like Gerd Bender, Kahlert, and Herbert Jüttemann, pioneered a scholarly approach to horological artifacts. Bender excelled in archival research and exploring written sources, Jüttemann

documented the technical details, Kahlert researched the cultural and socioeconomic

context, and Schaaf extracted history from the artifacts.

A premier example is Schaaf’s 1986 book Holzräderuhren (Wooden geared clocks), which remains to date the dom-inant text on the subject for Europe. In 1997 he published Die Reise ins

Uhrenland, a brilliant use of the copious correspondence between Andreas Löffler,

an 1840s emigrant from the Black Forest to England, and his hometown Black Forerst sup-

pliers, which provides a realistic, rather than roman-tically distorted, view of 1840s international trading among timekeepers.

Schaaf in 2009 published an expanded 4th edition of Schwarzwalduhren, with additional illustrations and chapters, mainly the industrialization of Black Forest clock making, using Philip Haas & Sons as a case study. Furthermore, Schaaf included authors dealing with specialized themes, such as the exportation of Black Forest clocks to the United States. Because of its large index of makers, Schaaf’s last book remains the must-have reference book on clock making in the Black Forest.

Editor’s note: The majority of information came from an obituary written by Johannes Graf in the DGC Mitteilungen No. 147 (Fall 2016) issue of the news-letter of the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum Furtwangen, the NAWCC’s sister organization of timekeeping enthusiasts.

—Translated from German by Fortunat Mueller-Maerki, FNAWCC (NJ)

284 • May | June 2017 • NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin www.nawcc.org

IN MEMORIAM | IN MEMORY OF | IN HONOR OF

Cecil Eugene (Gene) Rayburn, FNAWCC (TN) 1944-2017

Longtime NAWCC member Gene Ray-burn passed away on January 25, 2017. He was one of the most loyal

and active members of Tennessee Valley Chapter 42, having served as presi-dent, vice president, and program chair several times since 1989.

Gene was born in Haleyville, AL, and graduated from Auburn University in 1966. He lived and worked in the Knox-ville, TN, area most of his adult life and retired from Knox County Schools after 26 years.

Gene joined the NAWCC in 1986 and immedi-ately became involved with Chapter and Regional activities. He served as mart chair at several Mid-South Regionals and mart chair at the 1997 Atlanta National. He received his Fellow award at the 2002 Mid-South Regional.

Gene’s avocation as a clock collector, repairer, and researcher was reflected in the many lectures and workshops at Chapter meetings in which he shared his extensive knowledge of clocks.

Gene could always be counted on to use his years of experience as a teacher and coor-

dinator of computer-aided drafting to set up the mart layouts for the Regionals. He also served as live auction chair at many Mid-South Regionals.

Gene’s love and knowledge of clocks was inherited from his parents, who were avid clock collectors and longtime

NAWCC members. Gene’s father, Cecil, was also a Fellow in the NAWCC, and he

taught Gene how to repair and build clocks. He also taught him an appreciation of collect-

ing antique clocks and learning their history.

Gene will be greatly missed, not only by his wife of 52 years, Marty, and his family but by his many NAWCC friends of the five Mid-South Chapters: Knoxville, Bir-mingham, Atlanta, Nashville, and Huntsville.

If Father Time’s clock needs repair, I’m sure Gene can fix it for him.

—Ken Hogwood

Extraordinary GiveExtraordinary Give 2016 on November 18 raised more than 7 million dollars to distribute among nonprofits in Lancaster County, PA. Lancaster County Community Foundation’s annual fundraiser is the largest in the county. The following donors gave to the NAWCC.

In Memory Of Donations Made At Extraordinary Give

Deceased Donor

William Carr Nancy Carr

Frank Hill Janet Clarke

Fred R. Tischler Jim Coulson, *FNAWCC & Renee Coulson, *FNAWCC

Noah D. Buckwalter Kathleen Hoffman

John T. Huskin Andrew & Amanda Reese

Edward F. LaFond Jr. Bill Said

In Honor Of Donations Made At Extraordinary Give

Deceased Donor

Bonnie Ashworth Carrie Hall

www.nawcc.org NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin • May | June 2017 • 285

IN MEMORIAM | IN MEMORY OF | IN HONOR OF

ObituariesJane F. Bekemeyer

95924, Winter Garden, FL

Louise Bell, FNAWCC 8528, Seneca, SC

M. D. Berchdorf 35881, Bangor, CA

Jerry T. Bidlack 49194, Bethlehem, PA

Dr. John C. Birkitt 39629, Lake Elsinore, CA

James F. Canter 121349, Roaring River, NC

Jack L. Chipman 78130, New Braunfels, TX

Finis Eugene Curtis 37511, Mesquite, TX

William L. Davis 98735, College Grove, TN

Erwin A. Dence 141395, Chinook, WA

Richard Henning 170425, Naples, FL

Henry C. Johnson 2814, Kingston, PA

Thomas LaRose 35364, Greensboro, NC

Kenneth Martin 180018, Madisonville, KY

Archie B. Perkins, FNAWCC 6794, Denver, CO

Cecil E. Rayburn, FNAWCC 92214, Knoxville, TN

John H. Ricks 52526, Prospect, KY

Robert Robinson 59740, Pacific Grove, CA

Scott VanSant 19186, South Pasadena, CA

Irving R. Versoy 74977, Scituate, MA

Ralph W. Warner, FNAWCC 270, Tipp City, OH

Bob Webber 66718, Southaven, MS

Stanley G. White 6238, Richmond, IN

David Wicks 180361, Sefton, NSW, Australia

Robert Wood 172534, Downingtown, PA

In Memory ofWe recognize here those individuals and Chapters whose gifts to the

NAWCC have been given in memory of fellow members.

Brad Johnson given by Vista Chapter 136

Gene Rayburn given by Jim and Renne Coulson

Gene Rayburn given by Ken Hogwood, FNAWCC and Beauton Hogwood

Gene Rayburn given by Tennessee Valley Chapter 42

Fred R. Tischler given by Douglas Cowan, *FNAWCC and Dorothy Cowan

Fred R. Tischler given by Lone Star Chapter 124

John Wubker given by Central Illinois Chapter 66

In Honor ofWe recognize here those individuals and Chapters whose gifts to the

NAWCC have been given in honor of fellow members.

George F. Goolsby given by Evelyn A. Slough

286 • May | June 2017 • NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin www.nawcc.org