Edward Duffield: Philadelphia Clockmakers, Citizen, Gentleman with Bob Frishman

Massachusetts-based horological restorer, collector, scholar, lecturer, and author Bob Frishman will present a richly illustrated non-technical talk based on his award-winning biography of 18th century Philadelphia clockmaker and active citizen Edward Duffield.

Published in 2024 by the American Philosophical Society, Bob’s book deeply examines the history of one of North America’s largest and most important cities at that time and documents more than seventy Duffield-signed clocks and instruments now displayed in major museums and private collections. Of particular interest to a Derby audience is Duffield’s lifelong close friendship with American patriot Benjamin Franklin who, while living in England, visited Derby on several occasions to meet with eminent local clockmaker John Whitehurst. In addition, the Duffield family originated in the nearby village of that name prior to some members emigrating to Pennsylvania in the late 17th century. Bob also will discuss the many close connections between the horological trades on both sides of the Atlantic, with much of the content of early American clocks and watches imported from the mother country. Bob’s 256-page hardcover book, with its 227 quality illustrations, will be available for purchase and signing.

About Bob Frishman:

Bob Frishman, founder of Bell-Time Clocks in 1992, has repaired 8,000 mechanical clocks and has sold 1,800 vintage timepieces. He writes and speaks about the history, culture, and technology of horology — the science of timekeeping. He has published 150 related articles and reviews, and he has lectured to more than one hundred public audiences. His comprehensive biography of 18th-century Philadelphia clockmaker Edward Duffield, the first ever written, was published in 2024 by The American Philosophical Society Press.

He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (London), a Silver Star Fellow of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, an active member of the Antiquarian Horological Society (London), a Life Member of the Willard House & Clock Museum, Proprietor No.28 of the Boston Athenaeum, Shareholder No.8 of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and a member of the American Antiquarian Society, the Grolier Club, and the Ross Society of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Frishman was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, where he lives today. He was introduced to horology by a chance encounter on Thanksgiving Day in 1980, and his passion for the subject remains undiminished forty-five years later. Bob graduated from George Washington University in 1973, majoring in political science, with one semester studying in Paris.

He worked ten years in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC, as a speechwriter, legislative assistant and press secretary. For ten years after, he ran AKKO, Inc., based in Lawrence, Massachusetts; his family’s acrylic-furniture manufacturing company.

In 1992, he founded Bell-Time Clocks and began his full-time career of antique clock restoration, sales, scholarship, lecturing, writing, mentoring, and exhibit curating. His personal library of horology-related books now numbers nearly one thousand volumes. While residing in Lawrence, he chaired the city’s Planning Board, and he served as a trustee of The White Fund, Inc., a local charitable foundation, and as a trustee of the Lawrence Public Library. As Chairman of the Time Symposium Committee of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, he created and organized international conferences at The Winterthur Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Henry Ford Museum, The Museum of the American Revolution, The Horological Society of New York, and in Nuremberg, Germany.

Age 73, he has been married since 1973 to writer Jeanne Schinto. Avid tennis players and spectators, they reside in Andover’s historic Shawsheen Village.

Suitable for adults. Booking essential.

Accessibility at Derby Museums