History of the Seth Thomas Clock Company

Seth Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut in 1785, went to work for clockmaker Eli Terry in 1807, bought out Terry’s factory (together with Silas Hoadley) in 1810, and in December 1813 bought out Heman Clark’s clockmaking business in Plymouth Hollow.

Thomas continued Clark’s wooden movement tall clock production, and about 1817 began making the wooden movement shelf clock. These were cased in pillar and scroll cases until 1830, when the bronze looking glass and other styles became popular. In 1842, brass movements were introduced, and first cased in the popular O.G. case (which was made until 1913). Wood movements were phased out in 1845. In 1853 Mr. Thomas incorporated the Seth Thomas Clock Company, so that the business would outlive him. Mr. Thomas died in 1859, and Plymouth Hollow was renamed Thomaston in his honor in 1865.

After Mr. Thomas' death many new styles of clocks were introduced by his sons. Spring driven clocks were introduced around 1855, regulator clocks were introduced in 1860, and perpetual calendar clocks were introduced around 1863.  Some of the most popular later types include walnut kitchen clocks, marble clocks, black wood mantel clocks, black enameled iron cased clocks, oak kitchen clocks, tambour clocks, chime clocks, and electric A/C clocks (introduced in 1928).

In 1930 a holding company named General Time Instruments Corporation was formed to unite Seth Thomas Clock Company with Western Clock Company.  In 1955, a flood badly damaged the Seth Thomas factory. They phased out movement manufacturing and began importing many movements from Germany.

In 1968, General Time was bought by Talley Industries, and in 1979 the headquarters was moved to Norcross, GA.  In June 2001 General Time announced that it was closing its entire operation. The Colibri Group acquired Seth Thomas. In 2009, the Colibri Group shut its doors and was later acquired by Alliance Time, a division of Mont d'Or of America.

Source: http://clockhistory.com/sethThomas/company/index.html

Merritt’s Antique Clock Shop offers fine American and European wall clocks, shelf clocks and grandfather clocks at reasonable prices. In Merritt’s Clock Shop you can always find a wonderful selection of antique clocks by Seth Thomas, Ingraham, NewHaven, Gilbert, Waterbury, and Ansonia Clock companies along with unusual woodworks and spring driven clocks by earlier American clock manufacturers.

Troubleshooting: Grandfather Clock Weights are not Moving

If you have three weights on your grandfather clock and none are moving, the clock is not going to chime or keep time.  Let’s look at the purpose of the three grandfather clock weights:

• Left Weight: powers the hour strike and count
• Middle Weight: powers the time train and keeps the pendulum swinging
• Right Weight: powers the Westminster chime melody

If the weight in the middle is moving downward and the left and right weights are not, this simply means your chimes are turned off. There is usually a lever on the side of the dial for chime on / chime off. Set this to “chime on” and your left and right weights will start moving downward over the course of a week. If your grandfather clock doesn’t have a chime on /off selector on the dial, look just below the dial for a rod hanging down which you may push up or pull down to start the chimes.

If your chimes are starting for the first time in a while, it may take an hour for the chimes to sync properly so the chimes are correct to the hour and quarter hour.

Source: http://www.grandfatherclocks123.com/clock-news/grandfather-clock-weights-are-not-moving

Merritt’s Antique Clock Shop offers fine American and European wall clocks, shelf clocks and grandfather clocks at reasonable prices. As a well established Clock Parts Supplier, Merritt’s offers any hobbyist or experienced repairman an extensive selection of clock and watch repair tools, supplies, parts and books.