Old New Haven Clock Factory to be Renovated

[Mackey]

♪ I want you back where you belong! ♪
The New Haven Clock Company operated out of New Haven, Connecticut from 1853 to 1960. Over the more than one century of its existence, the well known clock company produced many varieties of table, wall and mantle clocks, as well as pocket watches. Around 1937 to 1939 The New Haven Clock Company also produced an early flip clock, which today is referred to as the "New Haven Flip Clock."

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Recalling the historical events surrounding an antique clock can be fascinating. But in this case, the history of the factory building where the clocks were made can be just as interesting. The old brick factory building resides in New Haven, Connecticut in an industrial area just outside of downtown New Haven. Without question, the New Haven Clock Company building located on Hamilton, St. John and Wallace streets has a long, and colorful history, and today, perhaps a promising future.

The old clock factory building over the years hosted such things Kurt's Gay Bar, various strip clubs (including the "Club International Strip Club" that featured a glass swimming pool hanging from the ceiling), a Motor Cycle Club, various genres of music concerts, an indoor skate park, odd ball art galleries as well as squatters. One thing I found interesting (as a child of the 80s) was that the building was used by rock band "38 Special" in a music video for their hit song "Back Where You Belong."

Unfortunately, in the early years, the New Haven Clock company made glow in the dark clock dials by painting them with self-luminous paint containing Radium-226. Tragically, many women factory workers at other clock companies contracted severe radiation poisoning by Radium-226 in the making of these glowing clock dials - suffering a rotting of the jaw, now known as radium jaw. Several of these women bravely took a legal stance against the involved companies and the government, eventually securing new workers' rights. The book "Radium Girls," by Kate Moore covers this tragic moment in history very well.

While the New Haven Clock Company did not carry the stigma of injuring their workers, the building still became contaminated with Radium. After years of environmental studies, the building was accepted into Connecticut's Brownfield Site program. A Brownfield site is a property for which the redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence of any hazardous contaminant. The building was slated to enter the first stages of an estimated $6.6 million environmental remediation at the end of June 2018.



So soon, the historic New Haven Clock Company Building, will get a new lease on life. On May 22, 2018 city leaders approved a deal allowing the redevelopment of building into affordable housing apartments that will be known as the "Clock Shop Lofts."

Now on to the New Haven Flip Clocks.
The video below marks a first in review of the New Haven Flip clocks because to my knowledge they have seldom been pictured or reviewed together. Now, in 2019, we're quite fortunate to have both clocks in Flip Clock Fans Studios.

The New Haven Clock Company called the clock The New Haven "Time Flip" and in advertisements it was also referred to as the "Time at a Glance" clock. But what we definitively know about the New Haven "Time Flip" remains limited. However, the consensus is that the clocks first appeared in 1937. And by 1939 an advertisement still describes the clock as "modern masterpiece by New Haven that gives you the time accurately and precisely, just as you would speak it."



As you can see, there exist two distinct versions of the New Haven Flip Clock. The slightly larger and more common style known as the "Stylis Timepiece." This name from the paper label typically attached on the bottom. And, the other, "Perseus Numeral Timepiece." The clock mechanism of the Stylis is housed in a cylindrical glass tube which rests on an equally sized wooden framework or cradle. The cylinder and cradle are positioned between two arched, wooden end pieces on either side, almost like bookends. The numerals are large and easily visible from a distance. The movement of the motor can be confirmed by a spinning flat circle, flush with the right inner side of the clock, that has an umbrella pattern. The whole assembly lies on a relatively thin (about 1/2 inch), flat wooden base. The wood is reportedly "natural Mahogany, trimmed with White Holly". Advertisements list the dimensions as 7 3/4 inches wide, 3 3/4 inches high and 3 3/4 inches deep. Yet today when I measure, the clock is only 7 and a half inches wide. Shrinkage of the wood surely could be the cause. The "style number" (or what we might call the model number) is stamped into a silver blank space on the painted metal identification plate - and it reads "N.H.S 611-247T". Also on this plate one can also see the various patent numbers and the identification of the clock as originating from the New Haven Clock CO. New Haven, CT. U.S.A. A building with which are now much more acquainted.



The second version of the New Haven flip clock, which is considerably harder to find, is the "Perseus Numeral Timepiece." In spite of a different name and look, the name plate on the backs of these clocks contains the same style number as found on the "Stylis Timepiece". There is also another variant of this clock with the name plate bearing the stamp "WS-611-437T" and the designation, "Westinghouse Elect. Supply Co, Hamilton St, New Haven, Ct. USA". This clock also has the "Perseus Numeral Timepiece" label on the bottom. Collectors who have had both in their possession assert that they are identical. It has been speculated that the New Haven Clock Company produced these alternately marked clocks to be distributed by Westinghouse."

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From an eBay Listing not related to FlipClockFans.com: https://www.ebay.com/itm/182386266948

In the "Perseus" clocks, the entire clock mechanism and glass cylinder are exactly identical to the more common "Stylus" clock. Now that we have both versions in Flip Clock Fans Studios, it's clear that the mechanisms are identical. When we removed the left arch from the Stylis we see that we're just dealing with some extra space here. You will notice that the clocks here have old fashioned type plugs. As the original silk wrapped cords from the 1930s have long since disintegrated.

Beyond the identical clock mechanisms, there are obviously substantial style differences between the clocks. The Stylis Timepiece is slightly longer than the Perseus, the Perseus being about 6 and one quarter inches wide compared to the 7 and a half inch Stylus. And you can see that the Perseus clock features circular rather than arched end pieces. The left hand side is substantially more narrow than the right - the right being thicker by necessity as this is where the motor resides (as it also does in the Stylis type). The circular end pieces combined with a lack of a resting cradle under the glass, creates an impression that the numbers are floating between the end pieces. The unbalanced look of the early flip clocks of the 60s and 70s hearken back to this "Perseus" New Haven flip clock as you can see when we compare it to a 1960s Solari Udine Cifra 3. Even so, many collectors seem to prefer the look of the Stylis Timepiece. Whatever their preference, antique clock collectors as well as fans of flip clocks universally seem to appreciate these historical clocks.

To sum it up, the New Haven Flip Clock appeals to history buffs, collectors of antique clocks as well as fanatics of flip clocks. Hard to find and expensive to own, this historical flip clock marks an interesting time in US History as well as early flip clock history. And soon, the building where these two clocks were made, will come to life again.

The above is essentially the voiceover text for the following video.

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[Performa]

Super-old flip clocks, toxic radium, 38 special, and a suspended glass swimming pool... well, the building certainly has had an exciting history already! Glad to hear it's going to be made into something new- who knows what crazy things still await the New Haven Clock Factory?

As for the clocks, totally stunning machines. Amazing to think that, though designs improved and features changed a little bit over the years that followed, New Haven Clock had pretty much nailed the design on the head from day one- from the whirligig to the flip action and everything. Awesome video sir, rock on!