Discover the history, science, and art of timekeeping! The National Watch & Clock Museum has been a beloved Lancaster County, PA, attraction for more than 40 years, providing kids and adults alike hours of learning and enjoyment. The museum was officially opened to the public in 1977 with fewer than 1,000 items. Since that time, the collection has increased to more than 13,000 items, and the museum has undergone several expansion projects. Today, it is recognized as the largest and most comprehensive horological collection in North America.

As you enter the museum's time tunnel and begin your tour of international timepieces, you'll know you've stepped into something special—all the time in the world!

The museum’s collection is international in scope and covers a wide variety of clocks, watches, tools, and other time-related items. Collections include nineteenth-century American clocks and watches, early English tall case clocks, public time clocks, timepieces from Japan and China, and timekeeping devices from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Russia. The exhibits take you on a tour through the history of timekeeping.

The museum is proud to display a piece of true Americana—the Engle clock. After spending 70 years touring the eastern United States at the turn of the last century, this 1,049-pound marvel disappeared from public view in 1951. After being rediscovered in a barn in the 1980s, the Engle clock was painstakingly restored by museum staff and volunteers. It is now run twice each day for museum visitors. It features not just time-telling but music, moving carved figures, and reminders that time is indeed fleeting.

While touring the museum, you’ll see everything from a sixteenth-century clock to a clock that tells the time on Mars, plus pocket watches and wristwatches from around the world. Learn what makes a clock tick and how clocks revolutionized travel at sea and life on land. Don’t miss our extensive collection of pieces from the Hamilton Watch Company, which began in Lancaster County, PA. For movie buffs, there is an impressive collection of watches featured in the James Bond films. The exhibit connects the iconic Super Spy to the Quartz Revolution, which changed not only watches but the world.

Visiting the National Watch & Clock Museum is truly a journey through time!