In the November 1997 MART, the newly formed 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 Revised Field Suitcase Workshop (FSW) program was developed by the NAWCC Ad Hoc Education Committee and approved by 1998 Council:

1. To provide technical repair and restoration training to those collectors who do not need or have access to the School of Horology at Columbia.
2. 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 Education Committee administers the Field Suitcase Program and the Practical Repair and Restoration articles published regularly in the NAWCC Bulletin.

The FSW Program currently offers two,and four-day courses in clock and watch repair and in Lathe skills development. The Committee members are constantly seeking ideas for other courses and also for individual volunteers to assist or develop new courses for the program.

The first FSW class was held on July 26, 1998 in Oklahoma City, and as of 12/06/2010, 273 classes have been completed in many of the US and in Canada.

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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, assigns an instructor and sends each student the course requirements.  The Administrator also Emails each student a course outline, the required student tool list, a list of vendors where tools can be purchased, information on the movement needed in class, and a reading reference list.

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 NAWCC 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. with some exceptions:
•  F105 requires eight to twelve students.
•  The F301 Pocket Watch Repair Course has a minimum of seven and a maximum of eight students.

The Coordinator Incentive Program allows Class Coordinators to receive free tuition. A Coordinator who enrolls the maximum students a course is allowed less one, gets in the classs free of charge provided they have met the course prerequisites.