Seth Thomas Electric Clock

[The Treasured Clock]

Hi Guys,
Someone was at a garage sale after he went to the gym close in the area and told me he had found an electric clock made by Seth Thomas. With what little I do know, it maybe, first, that Seth Thomas was still in existance well into the middle of the twentieh century. Correct me if I am wrong, I believe that Seth Thomas started manufacturing electric clock. Would I be accurate to tell him on both these points?
Jonathan Lee Jones

 

[Steven Thornberry]

Yes, Seth Thomas was in existence well into the 20th century. The name is still in use but under new ownership, as it were. In 1931, ST became a division of General Time Instruments Corp., later called General Time Corp. In 1970, General Time became a division of Talley Industries. In 2001, the Colibri Group purchased the ST Trademark. It's come a long way. ST did manufacture electric clocks beginning in the late 1920's or early 1930's (someone correct me if I am off here), as did many of the other major clock makers, but they were not the first to do so.

 

[eskmill]

Thornberry is correct. Seth Thomas made and sold lots of AC (alternating current) electric clocks beginning about in the late 1920's in an attempt to compete with Warren Telechron but not to infringe on the Telechron patent. The early Seth Thomas self-starting AC clock motor is kind of weird but they work well.

Sometime prior to the 1930's Seth Thomas made a few battery-electric clocks based on the 86 movement....and before that we see Self-Winding Clock Company battery-electric movements with the Seth Thomas name on the plates made sometime before about 1890 for at least ten years, when the Self-Winding Clock Company began to make most of their own battery-electric movements.

 

[The Treasured Clock]

Thanks Guys
Jonathan Lee Jones