About

What is the field suitcase workshop program?

In the November 1997 MART, the Ad Hoc Education Committee asked members to express their degree of interest in technical repair and restoration of horological artifacts. Sixty-nine percent of respondents to the survey supported a National program for organized field workshops for clock/watch repair and restoration at Chapter, Regional, and National functions. The Field Suitcase Workshop (FSW) program was developed by the NAWCC AD Hoc Education Committee and approved by Council:

  • To provide technical repair and restoration training to those collectors who do not need or have access to the School of Horology at Columbia.

  • To encourage members' efforts in maintaining and upgrading their collection by offering technical repair and restoration training at an affordable cost, and within a reasonable distance from their homes.

The full standing Education Committee now administers the Field Suitcase Program and the Practical Repair and Restoration articles published regularly in the NAWCC Bulletin.

The FSW currently offers clock repair, lathe, and pocket watch courses and is seeking ideas for other courses and also for individual volunteers to assist or develop new courses for this program.

How are the classes organized?
The local NAWCC chapters generally organize Field Suitcase Workshop classes, but anyone willing to organize a class can become a Class Coordinator. The Coordinator enrolls the students, collects the tuition, locates an appropriate classroom, pays the classroom rental, and schedules the class with the Field Suitcase Workshop Administrator. The Administrator confirms the date and assigns an instructor. The instructor travels to the class site and conducts the course. The NAWCC trains and certifies every instructor, and each has years of repair experience. Instructors travel with a tool kit containing larger tools such as an ultrasonic cleaner, a lathe, a bushing tool, a spring winder, and a depthing tool. Students are responsible for their own tuition, personal tools, and clock movement if required. There is a class size requirement of seven to nine students for each class. F105 requires eight to twelve students. The F301 Basic Pocket Watch Repair Course has a minimum of seven students and a maximum of eight students.
The Coordinator Incentive Program allows Class Coordinators to receive free tuition. A Coordinator who enrolls eight students in a class may take that class free as the ninth student if they have met the course prerequisites.
The Responsibilities of a FSW Class Coordinator