Featured Antique Clock Thread - SOMEONE Wasn't Wearing Protection....

Imagine my surprise to find this little guy this morning. Evidently he takes after his mom....Mother and child are doing fine and ticking away. The proud papa is below.




Oh, and in case you were thinking about taking this thread seriously......don't!

 

Absolutely wonderful clocks.

 

Clever title too.

 

How on earth do you find them "essentially" all the same......except for size!!!! WONDERFUL!!!!!

 

OK, time to be an adult and 'fess up.....

These clocks were all made by the same company, Welch Spring & Co., which was located in Connecticut, as were many 19th century American clockmakers. Welch, Spring & Co. was a subsidiary firm of the E.N. Welch Manufacturing Company designed to produce a more expensive line of clocks in the late 1870s, and the ones above are the result.

Elisha N. Welch was a huge opera fan, and his favorite was the Spanish diva Adelina Patti. He named his new, best quality movement after her. Soon afterward the entire clock, case and all, became known as the "Welch Patti." The movement was patented in 1879, and he designed four different cases to be executed in rosewood and rosewood veneer, three of which you see above. All three were named after opera singers, the other two being the (Anna Louise) Cary and the (Etelka) Gerster.

The "mom" on the left in the top photo is a Welch Patti. The one next to "her" is called a Baby Patti, for obvious reasons. It has a completely different - and much lower quality - movement, because of the restricted size. Best guess is that only about 100 of these were made. They're kind of a novelty item, but oh so hard to find these days; it took us over 3 years to find this one. The bottom photo is a Welch Cary.

As Aquitaine noticed, the clock cases are essentially the same, and the movements of the two big clocks are also the same. The difference is in the crest of the cases; for some reason the Welch Cary is by far the hardest of the regular-sized ones to find. Both the Cary and the Patti have Renaissance Revival cases, while the Gerster has an early Eastlake-style crest. I can take a photo of the Gerster if anyone wants to see it.

By 1885 these rosewood case clocks were being discontinued in favor of walnut, although some of these 1880s clocks are just as desirable. After Welch's death in 1887 the firm declined fast, with cheaper clocks in production by the 1890s. The wealthy Sessions family eventually bought the company and changed the name to The Sessions Clock Company in 1902. It all went further downhill through the 20th century.

Cheers!

 

Very cool story and the clocks are lovely!

 

I always enjoy seeing pieces from your collection Ghopper! I don't have any clocks to show at the moment but may in the near future. My father is fixing the mechanism in a clock I purchased a few months ago at an estate auction. Kind of neat, certainly antique, but nothing like those handsome clocks of yours!

 

nice clocks
great story
excellent find on the Baby Patti.....

 

I would love to see a picture of "Gerster" !

They are beautiful clocks & how awesome that you found the baby after looking for so long.

 

For Wiscbirddog:

 

Ghopper, your clocks are exquisite! TY for sharing them and their history with us.

 

I agree they are fantastic.

 

Beautiful clocks -

 

What do you mean?? HE WAS ADOPTED!!!