Waterbury Clocks
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The Waterbury Clocks manufacturing company was set up in 1857 in the Naugatuck Valley, with the intention from day one that it would be a contender for the largest and best run clock making company in the United States. No expense was spared and the company set out to hire the best clock making talent money could buy. Soon clock makers like Chauncey Jerome were working for Waterbury and he set about making the company a serious force in clock making.
The Waterbury Company had another great advantage in that it had access to a foundry and its products; the Benedict & Burnham Co was the source and Waterbury was an offshoot of that company. With such a well founded company the production of Waterbury Clocks was soon well established and over the next thirty years a great number of clock models were produced.
Near the end of the century as consumers' tastes changed from clocks to watches, the company began to manufacture pocket watches in addition to Waterbury clocks. With the advantage that the company had in automation of parts manufacture, Ingersoll became an important customer of Waterbury, purchasing large quantities of pocket watch movements for their so-called 'Dollar' pocket watch and other watches.
By 1920 Waterbury was indeed the biggest manufacturer of clocks and watches in the U.S. Throughout the company's expansion it had always practiced good financial management and had invested heavily in new plant and machinery, which kept it in front of most other clock makers of the time.
However, as with most clock manufacturers in 1929 after the stock market crash, even a well run concern like Waterbury could not escape the ravages of the depression that followed. Close to insolvency in 1932 the company made a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy. Having purchased the ailing Ingersoll watch company it merged the two operations to form the Ingersoll Waterbury Company and in 1933 it made the famous 'Mickey Mouse' watch under license from Walt Disney.
The next challenge was World War II. The company stopped all production of Waterbury clocks and watches and instead joined many other clock makers in producing timing and other mechanical devices related to the war effort. It was during this time that a new owner took over the Ingersoll Waterbury company. As with so many other clock makers, in 1942 they were taken over by a group of investors who renamed the company the 'United States Time Corporation'.
This new injection of funding helped the company regain some of the lost momentum and soon new and innovative watches were coming from the new factory in Middlebury, CT. It was here that the now famous 'Timex" brand was invented. It is here that the association with clocks ends but it is good to note that the Timex Company is still in operation, although now under Norwegian control.
Waterbury Clocks brands
There are literally hundreds of Waterbury Clocks that you might come across, including the many 'Regulator' clock models, 'Ship's Bell', 'Parlor', 'Calendar' range, 'Chime' clock and 'Willard'. These are the more common ones but there are in total around 300 different models.
Happy Collecting!
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