Novelty Clocks

Ansonia Clocks were made by a clock manufacturing business which started in Ansonia, Connecticut, in 1851 and which moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1878. An enormously successful business, it turned out thousands of clocks in a large number of styles. more...

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History

In 1838, brass movements had mainly replaced wooden and cast iron movements in most clocks due to the volumes of supply of rolled Brass. In 1844, metal dealer Anson Greene Phelps formed the Ansonia Brass company in Connecticut, to supply the expanding clock business - nine companies were producing clocks in Connecticut.

In 1850 the Ansonia Clock Company was formed as a subsidiary of the Ansonia Brass Company by Phelps and two Bristol, Connecticut clockmakers, Theodore Terry and Franklin C. Andrews. Terry & Andrews were the largest clock manufacturers in Bristol, with more than 50 employees using 58 tons of brass in the production of about 25,000 clocks in 1849. Phelps decided to get into the clockmaking business to expand the market for his brass, while Terry and Andrews got access to better quality brass at better prices. They had resultantly sold 50% of their business to Phelps, and moved the business to Ansonia.

Expansion

In 1877 the clock company purchased a factory in New York, and moved most of its production there after being spun off from the brass company. Henry J. Davies of Brooklyn, himself a clockmaker, inventor and case designer, joins the newly reconstituted company as one of its founders. As President, he is thought to be largely responsible for the figurine clocks, swing clocks and other unusual and desirable novelties for which the Ansonia firm became known.

Thomas Edison visited the factory in 1878 to experiment combining clocks with his newly developed phonograph. But the experiments proved unviable.

By 1879, a second factory is opened in Brooklyn, New York and by June 1880 employs 360 workers, while the Connecticut factory continues producing clocks as well with a work force of 100 men and 25 women. Hence, clocks marked \"Connecticut\" were generally produced before 1879, while those marked \"New York\" were all produced after 1880

The peak years

After the New York factory burnt down in 1880 - the loss is reported to be $750,000 with only $395,000 insured. (See New York Times October 28, 1880;

In 1899, Phelps grandson William Earle Dodge Stokes commissioned architects Graves and Duboy to build the \"greatest and grandest hotel in Manhattan, New York\" New Yorks first air conditioned building, the Ansonia Hotel still stands at 2107 Broadway, albeit as an condominium apartment block

Downfall

In early 1914, just before World War I, Ansonia were producing 440 different models. However, the novelty clock became subject to fierce competition. As Ansonia’s strongest selling line, rather than maintain profit, Ansonia attempted to gain volume by offering clocks at \"old pricing\".

Read more at Wikipedia.org