My first flip clock! 
My uncle had a flip clock radio when I was a kid in the 70's, but no one in my family ever had one.
Found this one at an antique store yesterday for $5.
The clock works, but the alarm doesn't.
It says "Japan" in three places: front, back, and the label.
so, it was definitely made in Japan!
It has a single incandescent bulb, which is *very* dim..
During the day, you can barely see that the bulb is lit, but at night it gives a nice soft glow:
Removing the front two screws (only one screw remains on mine) allows the front plastic bezel to be removed:
So I tried to figure out the date this clock was made..it has no serial number, and googling the model number, both 820 and 0820-000 didnt bring up anything conclusive about the date of manufacture..
But I did discover that there are other Seth Thomas models also called "Speed Read Lite-Alarm", with different model numbers,
and plastic cases..The interesting bit is the label has different wording..The label on mine says:
"Seth Thomas, Division of General Time Corp."
And some plastic case models, which are later models, say:
"Seth Thomas, A Talley Industries Company"
So when did "Talley Industries" happen? Google says Seth Thomas was bought by Talley in 1968.
But it looks like it took a few years for the labels to change, because a webpage here:
http://antiqueseththomasclocks.com/s...ock-labels.php
says the label wording was switched to Talley beginning in 1970.
Assuming that is correct, that would mean my clock was made in 1970 or earlier.
Which would be awesome if it was 1969! because it could go with my 1969 collection:
http://www.flipclockfans.com/forum/f...69-flip-clocks
(I have an update for that thread coming soon.)
But wait! there's more!
When I took the clock apart, there is a date written inside!
1976..hmmm..If I hadn't done any research on the labels, 1976 would make perfect sense to me, and I would have just easily accepted that "this clock was made in 1976, case closed"
but! I dont think its that simple..
The clock's label, which says " Division of General Time Corp" and *not* "a Talley Industries Company" suggests a date of 1970 or earlier!
and not later than 1970..So considering the label switch to "Talley" happened in 1970, having a non-Talley label still in use in 1976 seems a stretch.
And something else is interesting about those hand-written notes..Notice they are all in English..no Japanese characters..
and the date convention, 10-26-76, (Month-Day-Year), is the "American" way of writing the date!
In England, they would use 26-10-76, and in Japan it would be:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_a...ation_in_Japan
76-10-26
So it seems clear those notes are *not* Japanese notes from when the clock was made..
They are almost certainty "American repair notes"..written by an American in 1976, probably when the clock was brought in for repair.
and the alarm doesn't work..which suggests a repair was needed...and one bottom screw is missing, which also shows this clock has been opened up at some point.
Today it seems inconceivable that a clock like this would have actually gone to a repair shop!
today, we no longer do this..we would throw it away and buy a new one! we couldn't even find a repair shop if we wanted to.
But up to the 70's repairing electronic equipment was commonplace..
My Great uncle, my Grandmothers brother, owned a TV and electronic repair shop in my hometown of Waverly NY..
He was in business in the 1950's, 60's and 70's..The sign for his shop still exists today:
So, it's entirely plausible to me that this clocks owner took it in for repair in 1976..
and I believe those notes, with the date, must be in reference to the 1976 repair, and not the original manufacture..
because the clock's label doesn't match 1976. (it suggests 1970 or earlier) and the writing convention does not match Japan.
So..Im guessing a date of most likely 1968, 1969 or 1970 for this clock..
If anyone has any thoughts, please share!
thanks,
Scot
My uncle had a flip clock radio when I was a kid in the 70's, but no one in my family ever had one.
Found this one at an antique store yesterday for $5.
The clock works, but the alarm doesn't.
It says "Japan" in three places: front, back, and the label.
so, it was definitely made in Japan!
It has a single incandescent bulb, which is *very* dim..
During the day, you can barely see that the bulb is lit, but at night it gives a nice soft glow:
Removing the front two screws (only one screw remains on mine) allows the front plastic bezel to be removed:
So I tried to figure out the date this clock was made..it has no serial number, and googling the model number, both 820 and 0820-000 didnt bring up anything conclusive about the date of manufacture..
But I did discover that there are other Seth Thomas models also called "Speed Read Lite-Alarm", with different model numbers,
and plastic cases..The interesting bit is the label has different wording..The label on mine says:
"Seth Thomas, Division of General Time Corp."
And some plastic case models, which are later models, say:
"Seth Thomas, A Talley Industries Company"
So when did "Talley Industries" happen? Google says Seth Thomas was bought by Talley in 1968.
But it looks like it took a few years for the labels to change, because a webpage here:
http://antiqueseththomasclocks.com/s...ock-labels.php
says the label wording was switched to Talley beginning in 1970.
Assuming that is correct, that would mean my clock was made in 1970 or earlier.
Which would be awesome if it was 1969! because it could go with my 1969 collection:
http://www.flipclockfans.com/forum/f...69-flip-clocks
(I have an update for that thread coming soon.)
But wait! there's more!
When I took the clock apart, there is a date written inside!
1976..hmmm..If I hadn't done any research on the labels, 1976 would make perfect sense to me, and I would have just easily accepted that "this clock was made in 1976, case closed"
but! I dont think its that simple..
The clock's label, which says " Division of General Time Corp" and *not* "a Talley Industries Company" suggests a date of 1970 or earlier!
and not later than 1970..So considering the label switch to "Talley" happened in 1970, having a non-Talley label still in use in 1976 seems a stretch.
And something else is interesting about those hand-written notes..Notice they are all in English..no Japanese characters..
and the date convention, 10-26-76, (Month-Day-Year), is the "American" way of writing the date!
In England, they would use 26-10-76, and in Japan it would be:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_a...ation_in_Japan
76-10-26
So it seems clear those notes are *not* Japanese notes from when the clock was made..
They are almost certainty "American repair notes"..written by an American in 1976, probably when the clock was brought in for repair.
and the alarm doesn't work..which suggests a repair was needed...and one bottom screw is missing, which also shows this clock has been opened up at some point.
Today it seems inconceivable that a clock like this would have actually gone to a repair shop!
today, we no longer do this..we would throw it away and buy a new one! we couldn't even find a repair shop if we wanted to.
But up to the 70's repairing electronic equipment was commonplace..
My Great uncle, my Grandmothers brother, owned a TV and electronic repair shop in my hometown of Waverly NY..
He was in business in the 1950's, 60's and 70's..The sign for his shop still exists today:
So, it's entirely plausible to me that this clocks owner took it in for repair in 1976..
and I believe those notes, with the date, must be in reference to the 1976 repair, and not the original manufacture..
because the clock's label doesn't match 1976. (it suggests 1970 or earlier) and the writing convention does not match Japan.
So..Im guessing a date of most likely 1968, 1969 or 1970 for this clock..
If anyone has any thoughts, please share!
thanks,
Scot
Regarding the notations on the inside of the clock. The first date is almost certainly the day someone first opened up this clock to work on it. These things were made to last and typically a repair would simply be a bulb replacement. I believe the 2200 SL is reference to a bulb type. The second person who opened this up at a later date evidently did not agree with the bulb choice. NE2 references a neon bulb (the orange glow bulb) and the 33K 1/2 is the 33K Ohm 1/2 watt resistor that the repair person put in line with the neon bulb that is now likely in your clock. I can see where the second repair man lined out the 2200 SL (L probably stands for "lamp). But I can't find the exact bulb that this references. In any event, the NE2 was likely the original type bulb. These bulbs typically do not just go out ... they fade away. Somone once said, "It's better to burn out ... than fade away" - but when it comes to flip clock bulbs, I'd have to disagree.
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