Photo: Mackenzie Breeden Ben Ahlers gets a hero’s welcome when he arrives at the Horological Society of New York on a sweltering Wednesday at the end of July. The organization’s petite midtown museum is calm and powerfully air conditioned, like the special corner of a college library perfect for cranking out a term paper. A few tourists examine displayed artifacts like a centuries-old pocket watch in hushed tones, while employees celebrating a birthday split a small cake amongst themselves.