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| Clock
Making |
| Interior
of Beacham's Clock Co. Showroom |
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C.E. (Ed)
Beacham III, now in his late 50's, started in 1965 making
his first clock in high school wood shop. 2005 marks 40
years in the trade for this old world craftsman.
He starts with a design concept, computes a gear train
for a desired pendulum length and lays out the pivot locations
using the latest of CAD-CAM technology. Special care is
taken in the design to assure that the gear to pinion
profile, ratio, and finish be as smooth running as possible
to reduce the amount of weight required to run the clock.
He uses high leaded brass for the plates and gears and
416 Stainless Steel for pinions and arbor stock. His current
project is a multi-dial calendar clock. The outside ring
is the complete calendar for |
the year.
The inner ring is the time dial. In the upperpart of the
center is the AM-PM day of the week and moon's age. The
lower center of the dial gives the Sunrise and Sunset
for the 45th latitudes by the week for the year. This
clock movement also strikes the hour and half-hour on
a deep toned gong.
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| Beacham's
Wagon in a Sister's Parade |
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Case
Making |
Woodworking
is the creative, fun part. Using beautiful walnuts, Brazilian
rosewood, fiddle back maple, cherry, mahogany and oak,
each piece is hand picked. Many exotic burl veneers are
used for accents. Each case is assigned the same matching
number as the clock movement. The cases are lacquered
and hand rubbed like a fine piano finish to a beautiful
shine. Beveled or painted glass usually completes the
finished clock.
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| Shameless
Self-Promotion |
| Bell
Nest Clock. A 9 bell Kieninger movement, porcelain
dial with scenes, a perpetual calendar. This was
an original case design. Gold Medal winner at the
1991 National NAWCC Convention |
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Since 1987
Ed has been awarded 9 first place ribbons, 2 second places,
l third place, 6 Gold medals, l Silver medal, and l Bronze
medal in International Clockmaking Competitions.
In February of 1995, his now famous Skeletonized Miniature
Lantern Vienna, won a First place trophy in “Authentic
Reproductions” in the prestigious Jewelers Associations
Competition at the Javits Center in New York. The Beacham’s
entry was the only American made piece in that category;
all the others were made in Europe or the Orient.
At the 2003 Convention of the National Association for
Watch and Clock Collectors, Ed was presented the prestigious
Dana Blackwell Award for Excellence in Clockmaking. This
award is given to the few clockmaking craftsmen, who have
distinguished themselves over many years with national
and international awards and have sustained an excellence
in the clockmaking craft.
Each clock that Ed has produced, beginning with #1, has
been signed C.E.Beacham lll, dated and numbered. As of
November 2004, he has produced 663 clocks. These clocks
are found in fine collections and elegant homes from Europe
to the Orient and from New York to California, from Washington
to Florida. The Beacham’s Clock Company customer
list reads like a “Who’s who” –
from Industrial Entrepreneur, College Professors, Major
Business owners and CEO’s to Hollywood stars.
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