The Horological Society of New York Announces Gregory Brown as Executive Director
William Buchalter, President of the Horological Society of New York (HSNY), announced the appointment of Gregory Brown as the Society's Executive Director. Brown will lead the 160-year-old organization into its next chapter, building upon its historic commitment to education and preservation while expanding HSNY’s role as a resource and gathering point for the global horological community.
Gregory Brown, HSNY Executive Director
Brown brings a dynamic combination of experience to the role, including more than two decades building and scaling entrepreneurial and nonprofit organizations alongside a longstanding personal and professional connection to horology. An HSNY member since 2016, Brown is also a member of the Academy of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) and has previously contributed to TimeZone, covering Baselworld and other major industry events. Most recently, as Chief Operating Officer of sailworks, he built the governance, financial, and operational infrastructure supporting four artist-driven nonprofit foundations.
That combination of institutional leadership and firsthand engagement with the watch world comes at an important moment for HSNY. As enthusiasm for mechanical watches continues to reach new audiences, the Society is looking beyond its 160th anniversary and toward the role it can play in ensuring the people, expertise, and knowledge behind watchmaking grow alongside that interest.
Founded in New York in 1866 by working watchmakers, HSNY has grown from a guild into an internationally renowned nonprofit organization whose work touches nearly every part of the horological community. The Society helps fund the pipeline of burgeoning and future watch and clock makers through financial aid, grants to watchmaking schools and support for independent watchmakers; provides direct access to horological education through hands-on classes and monthly lectures; preserves more than 25,000 items of horological scholarship and history through the Jost Bürgi Research Library; and creates opportunities for watchmakers, brands, collectors, auction houses, scholars, journalists, and enthusiasts to come together around the craft.
Its impact is both educational and financial. In 2026 alone, HSNY awarded a record $450,000 in financial aid to 55 scholarship recipients, five watchmaking schools and three independent watchmakers. Its sold-out 160th Anniversary Gala brought together more than 500 members of the watchmaking community and raised $1.2 million to further the Society’s mission of advancing the art and science of horology.
That community includes some of the most influential names and institutions in contemporary watchmaking. Recent HSNY programs, fundraising initiatives and events have brought together or received support from names including F.P.Journe, Grand Seiko, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, and A. Lange & Söhne alongside Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. HSNY’S community also includes leading independent watchmakers Roger W. Smith OBE, Romain Gauthier and Bernhard Lederer.
“HSNY has spent 160 years supporting the people and knowledge behind watch and clock making,” said William Buchalter, President of the Horological Society of New York. “Greg understands both the institution and the industry around it. He brings the leadership experience we need to build on that foundation, expand our impact, and ensure HSNY remains as relevant to the next generation as it has been to those before it.”
Under Brown’s leadership, HSNY will continue to invest in the programs that have long defined the organization while expanding how it brings the industry and horological community, with larger-scale activations bringing leading voices from across watchmaking for deeper conversations about the craft, its people, and the issues shaping its future.
“There has never been more energy around watches, but sustaining that momentum requires investment in what sits behind them: people, education and knowledge,” said Brown. “HSNY has been doing that work since 1866. Our opportunity now is to build on that extraordinary foundation, broaden our impact and create new ways for the people shaping horology to learn from and engage with one another.”
Brown’s appointment also brings extensive experience building organizations through periods of growth. He founded and led PROD4ever —an interactive agency whose clients included Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Madonna, and the Beastie Boys — which was acquired by Icon Technology Studio. He stayed on through the integration and spent the next decade on Icon's executive team, overseeing operations for a global digital agency whose Fortune 500 clients included Spotify, SiriusXM, Stellantis and BMW MINI, and leading its partnership strategy and subsequent acquisitions. He has served for more than a decade as Board Chair of The Ally Coalition, a nonprofit that works with the music and entertainment communities to support LGBTQ youth.
Brown succeeds Nicholas Manousos, who served HSNY for more than a decade as Vice President, President, and Executive Director, a tenure during which the Society substantially expanded the reach and resources of its educational, scholarship, and library programs. Carolina Navarro, HSNY's Deputy Director, served as Acting Executive Director during the transition and will continue in her role as Deputy Director.
As HSNY enters its 161st year, the organization’s history remains fundamental to its identity, but its focus is firmly on what comes next: investing in the next generation of watch and clock makers, expanding access to horological knowledge, strengthening connections across the industry and creating new platforms for the conversations that will shape the future of watchmaking.
For the latest information on HSNY’s upcoming programs, visit hs-ny.org.
About the Horological Society of New York
Founded in 1866, the Horological Society of New York (HSNY) is one of the oldest continuously operating horological associations in the world. Today, HSNY is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art and science of horology through education. Members are a diverse mix of watchmakers, clockmakers, executives, journalists, auctioneers, historians, salespeople and collectors, reflecting the rich nature of horology in New York City and around the world. http://hs-ny.org
