Forest C. Shaner CMW

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The time on your computer is:

A little about myself

During the early seventies, I resided in Rochester, NY and found employment working for a gentleman named Mel Love. Mel was a watchmaker and as I watched him work, I was mesmerized by his knowledge, skill and dexterity. Within three years I was a graduate of The Bowman Technical School of watchmaking and had successfully completed the Certified Master Watchmaker examination given by the American Watchmakers Institute (now named the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute). Interestingly, although Bowman Technical School no longer exists, at the time of my graduation it was the oldest school of watchmaking in the nation. With diploma in hand, I began my career as a watchmaker and I recall the passion for the craft. It seemed that each broken watch called out to me with its own set of challenges, testing my skills. Curiosity boiled as a timepiece unfamiliar to me was presented for my evaluation. Those were exciting times for a young watchmaker. In rapid succession, second and third and fourth generation electric watches, all precursors of quartz based timekeeping poured forth into the consumer market. Energy cell powered watches muscled their way into the mainstream changing the technological world of modern watchmaking.

The benefits of learning the 'old school' repair techniques at Bowman Tech combined with the new innovations taught me to deeply appreciate both the wonderful history of watchmaking and also the era of precision timekeeping at a level never before experienced. We all understand that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. I try to convey to my customers the history of their timepiece and to convey at some level an understanding of the immense creative genius that was required to produce the timepiece they own. Much has already been lost to history and I feel compelled to share what knowledge I have.

My interest in complicated devices is not limited to watches. During the late 1990's, computers grabbed my curiosity and has never let go of me. I started learning just by building a computer for home use. The more I learned, I more I understood how vast the the Information Technology world is. Earning a degree was the only way for me and the experience, without question, framed some of the very best years of my life.