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The Northern Section meetings offer a variety of formal lectures and club nights at their meeting hall together with staging exhibitions at local museums, demonstrations of horological conservation and visits to horological places of interest.

The Club Nights and Lectures usually alternate each month with a guest lecturer being invited to give a presentation to the meeting, often with visual aids and exhibits. For the club night a theme is chosen, and members are encouraged to bring items for display, and possibly to say a few words about them.

The meetings are friendly, relaxed and give the opportunity to meet new friends with similar interests, exchange views, ideas, and get help with solving your horological problems. As well as this you relax with refreshments whist your discussions take place.

Our meetings are held on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 for 8:00 pm and carry on until everyone leaves, usually between 10:30 and 11:00 pm. The venue is in The Village Methodist Church (formerly Sale Moor Methodist Church), located at 303 Northernden Road, Sale, Manchester M33 2PP. Parking in front of the church and surrounding streets is available. The church is located on the south side of Manchester within a mile of Sale Railway station and close to the M60 junctions 6 and 7.

Visitors and new members are always most welcome.

Northern Section

To be held at our NEW VENUE of The Village Methodist Church, 303 Northernden Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 2PP at 7.30pm for 8.00pm, unless otherwise stated

Friday 11 April 2025

Club Night: Electrical Horology

Friday 9 May 2025

Lecture: ‘Jewel making in Coventry and London and the American connection’, by Ian Greaves

Friday 13 June 2025

Club Night: Horology from the Netherlands

Full Programme for 2025 (PDF download, updated 8 January)

Recent Meetings

Reports of previous meetings 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017

Bring & Discuss - Letter 'A' (February 2025)

This meeting began with the AGM which was postponed last month owing to bad weather. Once the formal proceedings were over, the meeting went on to the evening’s topic: Horological items relating to letter ‘A’. Some of the items shown are illustrated below.

Feb 25 - 1 Kens watches
Top left and right : A member’s first pocket watch was of special significance as it showed his family name. It had a standard London verge movement and was hallmarked 1812. Bottom left: An anonymous movement with Chinese duplex escapement, the parts of which were fully engraved with fine detail. Bottom right: A movement signed Arnold & Frodsham, 84 Strand, London, number 4227. This had an English lever movement with bi-metallic balance.
Feb 25 - 2 Whistling tramp
A carved wood and ivory automaton figure of a whistling tramp was made by the Griesbaum family in the Black Forest in the early twentieth century. Its head, hands, buttons, rosette, big toe and stick are ivory. When activated, he turns, nods and whistles, making a sound similar to a whistling bird. re. It was found amongst rubbish in a Walthamstow warehouse thirty-five years ago. On the right is a copy of the visible markings on the dial. The gnomon was sadly lost.
Feb 25 - 3 Peters watch
A gold wristwatch of small size, signed Harwood was shown. After returning from WW1, John Harwood settled in the Isle of Man where he resolved to develop a way of winding wristwatches without a keyhole. This led to the first automatic wristwatch. Harwood patented a centrally pivoted weight which swings between spring buffers while the watch is worn. Hands were set by rotating the bezel. His invention was first patented in Switzerland on 1 September 1924, number 106583. mprovements in Clocks, described thus: ‘Application of keyless watch winding gear to clocks, regulators and all large time indicators.’
Feb 25 - 4 Stewarts alarm clock
This early example of a small domestic alarm clock was gifted to one of our members when he was five years old. It is many years older than he is and dates back to WW1. The text on the dial reads: Gilbert Wake Up which indicates its manufacture by the American company Gilbert.
Feb 25 - 5 Ward 1
We were shown details of this clock as it was too fragile to transport safely. It is a George lll musical automaton table clock by London maker Benjamin Ward.
Feb 25 - 5 Ward 2
The three train clock has a silvered dial and below it, a riverside automaton scene of people and swans crossing a river. It has nine bells, eight for the tunes and one for the strike.
Feb 25 - 6 France longcase
The dial and movement of a longcase clock which has undergone significant alterations during its life. The dial is signed ‘France, Warrington.’ This was Richard France who was active during the first half of the eighteenth century. It has been converted from 30-hour to eight-day duration at some time in its history in a very unsympathetic manner.