Seth Thomas (clockmaker)

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

Life

Thomas was born in 1785 in Wolcott, the son of James and Martha Thomas. He graduated from a very young age a carpentry apprenticeship and worked for several years on houses and barns on the outskirts of Plymouth in Connecticut.

At age 21, he became a partner of Eli Terry, who in an old mill in Greystone ran a clock shop with Silas Hoadley. He worked there as a carpenter, established the watch case and built a watch movements. Terry, Thomas and Hoadley dared unusual for that time risk and started the production of 4,000 watches, 500 pieces each at the same time they wanted to sell in the environs. Nobody believed by their contemporaries to a success, and they were ridiculed, but their clocks were much sought after, and three years later, all 4,000 watches were sold at a profit. 1810 Terry gave his shares to the partners from, and two years later sold to Thomas Hoadley.

Thomas made ​​in December 1813 in Plymouth Hollow independently and acquired in 1814 by Eli Terry for U.S. $ 1,000 the license, the improved types of watches, the shelf -clock manufacture. These new watches were simple, accurate and above all cheap, so they could be manufactured and sold in large numbers of up to 12,000 watches a year. Seth Thomas was so successful that on 31 March 1853, the Seth Thomas Clock Company was established with an initial capital of U.S. $ 75,000. This company has developed into one of the largest watch manufacturers of the 19th century in the United States, the production ranged from inexpensive wooden wall clocks have pocket watches to precision regulator. 1930 merged the company with the Western Clock Company and a year later was incorporated into the General Time Instruments Corporation.

Seth Thomas was married twice and had nine children, including the children of Seth Jr., Edward and Aaron, the Seth Thomas Clock Company led on to his death on 29 January 1859.

Known single Watches

• 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 manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Company.

Trivia

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