National Watch and Clock Museum

There are only few museums like NWCM, dedicated principally to the history of timekeeping, and the majority of them - located in former centers of horological production - have primarily a local or regional focus.

The museum, located near the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County's Pennsylvania Dutch Country tourist area, serves both a general public (including youth), as well as a specialized audience of horological aficionados (including NAWCC members), which appreciate its study collection and some of the more specialized temporary exhibits.

[1] The museum attempts to show the complete history of timekeepers from the first non-mechanical devices (sundials, hourglasses, fireclocks) to the atomic clock and mass-produced wristwatches of the present.

[1][2] There is a "Learning Center" introducing some of the basic technologies of the mechanical timekeeper, such as the pendulum, and a large and varied exhibit on many types of clock escapement.

[3] The NWCM has an ongoing schedule of temporary exhibits — usually two of them at a time, one devoted to a general timekeeping-related theme of interest to the public, and the other a more specialized show appealing primarily to horological collectors.