Highlights of January's and February's Meetings

David Bisno in the Santa Barbara (California) Courthouse
clock tower's Bisno-Schall Gallery. Photograph by
Fay Bisno

BY DAVID PEREZ

January's meeting featured a talk by Rodney Baker.

Rodney started working with clocks as a teenager. The realization that there was a tower clock at the Santa Barbara Courthouse intrigued him. He noticed that the room in which it was housed was very dark and used extensively for storage. The clock had this forlorn look, isolated and dirty. Outside the tower, the four faces of the clock were not indicating the correct time nor the same time!

Along came David Bisno who was showing some of his students the clock. He and students Dick and Maryan Schall thought that something should be done about the state of this beautiful clock. What they started was a two year long effort to restore this graceful mechanism, giving it the space and presentation that it deserved.

Rodney, and the restoration crew, while combing through the piles of boxes around the clock and in dark corners of the room, discovered two sealed boxes of components originally delivered with the clock. Amazingly, these boxes contained the components needed to strike the bells. The bells turned out to be so expensive that the city of Santa Barbara never purchased them. So the boxes of parts sat there for over 80 years—untouched.

Bells were procured for the restoration. But these were no ordinary bells. Cast bronze bells would be extremely expensive and very heavy. Instead foam bells were made and covered in a faux patina to represent the finish one would see on 80 year old bells.

The restoration work on the clock and it’s gallery is so spectacular that last year the state of California awarded it the 2015 California Governor's Historic Preservation Award.

The end result of all this effort is named the Bisno-Schall Clock Gallery and is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday from 1 to 2 PM.

For more information go to the following website: www.bisnoschallgallery.com

The topic of February's meeting was "Show and Tell".  Here are a few pictures:

Giorgio Perissinotto extolling the virtues of French clocks. He brought the “Bullseye” clock (below) made around the end of the 19th century and generously donated it to a lucky conservator to take home. An interesting note - in France, if a chair is placed strategically outside a storefront, that indicates a antique store.

A beautiful and clever example of wood craftsmanship. The entire train was handmade. This is an example of the engine accentuated with spare clock parts.

Giorgio's 19th century “Bullseye” clock

Ferdinand Geitner performing his magic on a member’s clock

George Gaglini showing his Schatz 1000 Day Clock mounted on his handmade polished marble base.