Charley Allison,
Artisan Watchmaker
The story of an American inventor's creations...
nearly lost to time.
(click image for larger view)
Charles Beale Ernest Allison
Watchmaker
Inventor
Grandfather
May 13, 1892 - February 26, 1955
THE WHOLE STORY
Released July 2, 2024!
(available in every conceivable format)
In stock in the Rochester area
(support the indies!)
Ampersand Books
Bleak House Books
Lift Bridge Book Shop
Online
Barnes & Noble
AUDIO BOOK:
Audible
Apple Audiobooks
eBOOK:
Kindle
THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY
Picture it: January 2018.
Hi. My name is Gregory Gerard Allison.
I grew up hearing stories about my grandfather's craft.
A self-taught watchmaker at 16, over the period of his life,
he designed and created 13 unique "Allison clocks".
The collection included the "Allison Mystery Clock"...a wooden timepiece that had no visible works, or gears, or wires...the hands could be set spinning, independently, in any direction...yet they would always return to the currect time (including the time elapsed while spinning). How did it work? Nobody knew. My grandfather thought of the design in a dream.
The Allison Collection was praised by watchmakers, engineers (and even Hollywood celebrities!) during the 1940s in Los Angeles. Many added their signatures and comments to the Allison Watchmakers guest book (which I inherited).
He died in 1955 and only one of his timepieces was in my family's hands through inheritance. The remaining 12 were supposed to go to a museum, but where? When? Unknown. I vowed in my journal, at age 15 (1981),
to locate the missing collection when I grew up.
FLASH FORWARD.
Now, at 51, I'm writing a book about the search for my grandfather's (Charley Allison's) lost timepieces.
The quest includes movie stars and letters and divorces and broken gears and the Amish community and all sorts of stuff that I couldn't make up if I tried.
Here's a teaser YOUTUBE VIDEO (4 min.)
My quest was also written up in the July/August 2020 edition of the Watch & Clock Bulletin from the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, Inc. (NAWCC)
Here's the article in PDF form:
QUEST FOR INFORMATION
And some vintage newspaper articles from The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet captured my grandfather's uniqueness:
September 2022 Update:
I'm very excited to report that, after 70 years,
my grandfather's collection is FOUND!
In a most unlikely place...
Featured in this
YouTube video:
July 2023 Update:
The World Clock (created 1952),
from the Charles Allison Timepiece Collection,
on display
(for the first time in 70 years!),
won a First Prize
ribbon at the 80th Annual
National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Convention
in the Crafts Competition.
This one's for you, Grandpa.
March 2024 Update:
Museum Exhibit
The Charles Allison Timepiece Collection will be on display at the National Watch and Clock Museum from May 1 - July 31, 2024. Family lore reports that Charley always wanted his clocks to be recognized by a museum. Thank you to the NAWCC for giving him this posthumous gift!
More information available on their website: NAWCC Museum
June 2024 Update:
Podcast Interview
This just in! My Grandfather's Clocks
was the featured topic on the June 26
episode of Connections with Evan Dawson.
Replay available online or via podcast.
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about updates on Charley's collection!
(We promise not to overdo it).
A grateful grandson,
