Seth Thomas

Seth Thomas (1785-1859)

Seth Thomas (born August 19, 1785 in Wolcott (Connecticut) , United States , † January 29, 1859 ) was an American watchmaker and manufacturer who manufactured watches in mass production .

Life

Thomas was born in Wolcott in 1785 to James and Martha Thomas. He trained as a carpenter at a very young age and worked for several years on houses and barns in the outskirts of Plymouth , Connecticut .

At the age of 21 he became a partner of Eli Terry, who ran a watch shop with Silas Hoadley in an old mill in Greystone . He worked there as a carpenter , made the clock cases and installed the clock mechanisms . Terry, Thomas and Hoadley took a risk that was unusual for the time and began manufacturing 4,000 watches, 500 each at the same time, which they wanted to sell in the wider area. None of their contemporaries believed in success, and they were ridiculed, but their watches were coveted and three years later all 4,000 watches were sold for a profit. In 1810 Terry gave his shares to the partners, and two years later Thomas also sold to Hoadley.

Thomas went into business for himself in Plymouth Hollow in December 1813 and in 1814 acquired a license from Eli Terry for US $ 1,000 to manufacture his improved clock types, the shelf clock . These new watches were simple, accurate, and most importantly, inexpensive, allowing them to be manufactured and sold in large numbers of up to 12,000 watches per year. Seth Thomas was so successful that on March 31, 1853, the Seth Thomas Clock Company was founded with a starting capital of US $ 75,000. This company developed into one of the largest clock manufacturers of the 19th century in the United States. The product range ranged from inexpensive wooden wall clocks and pocket watches to precision regulators. In 1930 the company merged with the Western Clock Company and was integrated into General Time Instruments Corporation a year later .

Seth Thomas was married twice and had nine children, including sons Seth Jr., Edward and Aaron, who continued to run the Seth Thomas Clock Company after his death on January 29, 1859.

Well-known single watches

Clock at Grand Central Terminal

• The clock at Grand Central Terminal in New York was made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company.
• The clock tower of the Catedral Metropolitana in Medellín was made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company.

Trivia

• Shortly after his death, around 1865, the district of Plymouth Hollow was renamed Thomaston in his honor .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Willis I. Milham: Time and Time Keepers [...] . The Macmillan Company, New York (USA) 1941.
2. ↑ Website of the city of Thomaston  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

literature

• Tran Duy Ly: Seth Thomas Clocks and Movements , 2nd Edition, Arlington Book Co., ISBN 978-0964740600 .

Web links

Commons : Seth Thomas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• History of the Seth Thomas Clock Company (English)