Chapter 148 (Connecticut)
Highlights of March 18, 2023 Meeting

Chapter 148 held its second meet of the year on March 18, 2023.  83 members and guests attended, viewing clock, watch and associated horological items for sale by the table holders.  It was a robust crowd enjoying, once again, an array of bakery items (bagels, Danish, muffins, cookies), coffee and an assortment of juices.          

We were pleased and excited to have Lovell Hunter, of Derby, CT, a watchmaker and craftsman, give a presentation on his watchmaking experience and his new endeavor under the company name of Love Hunter Watches, LLC. He is craftsman and artist, making a limited number of handmade timepieces annually ranging from $5K to $25K.  His watches have an open “display” back featuring, what he feels is, the mechanism’s beauty in its intricate movement.  Lovell’s watchmaking career began with Tiffany & Co., NY, then worked at watch retailer Tourneau and finally as a watchmaker for the Swiss manufacturing company Breitling before starting his current career.  He honed his skills by attending a Derby, CT manufacturing program in partnership with Housatonic Community College, a program available to students of all ages.  During his presentation the attendees were shown examples of his work, including a watch case, dial plate and dial.  A slide show provided photos of his machinery and some of the mechanical drawings in his development of various watch parts and jigs.  At this time almost all his watch is handmade, his goal is to be able to make the entire watch (movement and case) by hand and proudly say it is “American Made”.   

We were pleased to see many of our members return, Mel Brown (CT), Karl Burghart (NY), Dave Darren Dagnoli (MA), Ewbank (CT), Ron and Justin Gentile (CT) Jim Katzin (CT), Don & Carol Montory (CT) Jack Ross (NY), Michael Slason Sr & Jr (CT) and Philip Yannone (CT) and many more.  We welcome our new members from CT and NY and missed some who could not make it for various reasons.  We hope they will be joining us at our next meeting in September.  It was a pleasure to see our President, Al Comen, join us after finishing medical treatment this past 6 months, missing our 2022 meetings.

To end the meeting, a raffle was held for table holders and attendees.  Prizes were of a horological nature and enjoyed by the winners.

Again, special thanks to all our officers and volunteers, without them we would not be able to hold our meetings.  Special thanks to Gail and Steve Brochu for help in setting up and all the others who lent a hand during our meeting.

Respectively

Al Comen, President

Dave Ewbank, Vice President and Program Director

Cheryl Comen, Treasurer

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