Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie (DGC), (German Society for Timekeeping) today is an organization of scholars, collectors and enthusiasts in Germany interested in the science, art and history of horology

Horology

Horology is the art or science of measuring time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, clepsydras, timers, time recorders and marine chronometers are all examples of instruments used to measure time.People interested in horology are called horologists...

.

History

The association was founded in the post World War II years (as an unofficial successor to the ) and originally consisted mainly of scientists and engineers from the watch and clock producing industry. Over the years more people joined who were interested in the history of timekeeping devices, and eventually two separate divisions were set up, a (Scientific Division) and a (Historical Division). When the clock and watch industry withered in the fourth quarter of the 20th century the technical division withered, and by 2000 the divisional structure was dropped. Today the bulk of the membership unites collectors, scholars and museum professionals interested in the historical aspects of clock

Clock

A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...

s, sundial

Sundial

A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...

s and watch

Watch

A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...

es.

Structure

Today the association is national in scope, and is loosely organised into working groups, both local groups (in Berlin, Dresden, Franconia, Frankfurt, Furtwangen, Hamburg, Cologne, Mannheim, Munich and Stuttgart) and special interest groups (wristwatches, electrical horology, restoration, sundials, pocket watch

Pocket watch

A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...

es, tower clocks, and horological science).

Activities

Besides the meetings of the working groups there is a multiday annual meeting often including visits to museums, restoration workshops or private collections. Once a year the organization also organizes an international study tour, traveling to a foreign locals to study historic horological artefacts. The organization also maintains a comprehensive library with books, periodicals, auction catalogues and trade manuals related to horology.

Publications

• Originally, starting in 1950, the DGC published a "Jahrbuch", an annual volume of scholarly papers dealing with various areas of horological technology.
• Starting in 1961 the started publishing its own yearbook with articles on historic timekeepers and collecting horological artefacts and sundials.
• Starting in 2000 the two yearbooks were combined into a redesigned "Jahresschrift".
• Newsletter: The organization publishes a quarterly newsletter for its members describing the activities of DGC and its working groups.
• Facsimile
  Facsimile
  A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
  
   Editions on CD-ROM: In an effort to preserve and distribute rare historic horological publications the society has an active program of scanning historic periodicals and other publications on horology and making them available to the public and its members on CD-ROM.

The administrative office and the library of the DGC are located in the historic former Gewerbemuseum in Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

, today a continued education center which also houses the Gebhardt collection on the history of the portable timekeeper.

Sister organisations

Its main sister organizations in other countries pursuing similar goals are:

• Antiquarian Horological Society
  Antiquarian Horological Society
  The Antiquarian Horological Society, abbreviated as AHS, is the British organization of scholars and enthusiasts of horology.The association was founded in 1953 and unites collectors, scholars and museum professionals interested in the historical aspects of horology – the study of the art,...
  
  - AHS (United Kingdom)
• - AFAHA (France)
• Chronometrophilia
  Chronometrophilia
  Chronometrophilia is described in its byline as the "Swiss Association for the History of Timekeeping / Association suisse pour l'histoire de la mesure du temps / Schweizerische Gesellschaft für die Geschichte der Zeitmessung"...
  
  (Switzerland)
• (Italy)
• National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors
  National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors
  The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors is an American non-profit organization with about 18,000 members.The NAWCC was founded in 1943 by members of the Horological Society of New York and the Philadelphia Watchmakers' Guild who wished to create a national organization...
  
  - NAWCC (United States of America)