Dear HSNY members, officers, staff, and family,
Since this is my first Horological Society of New York (HSNY) holiday letter I should introduce myself. I’ll be brief because I generally don’t like to advertise. I’ve been interested in timekeeping for as long as I can remember, especially in wristwatches. This passion turned into a small collection. That turned into completing a 3,000-hour WOSTEP training which laid the foundation for my career in the industry. Since then I’ve been incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I have ten years’ experience as a watchmaker at the bench. Along the way, I completed many trainings including a Breguet factory certificate for complicated tourbillon watches. In the last decade, I’ve been privileged to manage two different SAV workshops and work with many incredibly talented people.
Frankly, it is humbling to write this and to now serve you all as President of HSNY. I’m grateful to my longtime friend Ed Hydeman who stepped down earlier this year as HSNY’s Executive Director. Ed deserves an enormous amount of credit for keeping our organization alive when many people thought watchmaking was going to die. I wish him a very long and healthy retirement.
I’m grateful to Nick Manousos who has done so much to grow HSNY and congratulate him for now assuming the Executive Director position.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Henry Fried. The most famous past president of HSNY, who left impossibly large shoes to fill. I never had the chance to meet him but have learned from him through his incredible books.
Most of all, I am grateful to all the members, sponsors, and donors who support HSNY. Perhaps you have found this holiday greeting through an enthusiasm for watches, clocks, timekeeping, or simply craftsmanship itself. Whatever excites you, our goal during the year is to add fuel to your fire.
No matter how you’ve stumbled across this note, I hope it finds you in good health and encourages you to keep learning, to take care of the ones you love, and to do what you can to create a few more beautiful things to add to the world for others to enjoy today and in the future.
This is what brings us together, and what strengthens the community we enjoy so much — excitement for the best of what we can create, appreciation of time and timekeepers, and HSNY's mission of education. Time, after all, is the most precious luxury of all.
I look forward to a better 2021, to building an even more amazing membership, and to learning from as many of you as possible. With that, I wish all of you, very sincerely, happy holidays and best wishes going into a New Year.
Season’s greetings,
John Teifert
President, Horological Society of New York
