A Brief History of Seth Thomas Clocks

Did you remember to set your clocks back this last evening before going to bed? Of course I didn’t as you can tell from the ungodly hour that I am posting this. Anyway, after I woke up I picked up the Big Ben, which sits atop my dresser, and looked to see what time it was. Thinking it was later, I came downstairs, put the coffee on and proceeded to boot up the old computer. While the computer was booting up, I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the time on the bottom right hand corner, which is automatically update by Windows, and realized that of course I had forgotten to turn the clocks back one hour. When I went back into the kitchen for a coffee refill, I looked up and saw that the vintage Seth Thomas clock needed to be set as well.

Now some of you may have a Seth Thomas clock of your own, as a matter of fact, your grandparents, parents or aunts and uncles probably at one point or another probably had their very own. Seth Thomas clocks have been around since about 1810, when Mr. Thomas purchased Eli Terry’s Clock Company in Wolcott, Connecticut. Starting with tall clocks made of wood and in 1817 joining the movement by making shelf clocks of wood and still later in the 1830’s the bronze and glass clocks of the era. After his death in 1859, Seth Thomas’s sons took over and grew the clock business even further by diversifying their products.

In 1931, The Seth Thomas Clock Company became a subsidiary of General Time Instruments Corporation and was later moved to Georgia. After some financial and production troubles, the company almost died but was resurrected by the Colibri Corporation and the Seth Thomas Clock, at least in name is still available for purchase today from many stores and boutiques. They still make a line of wooden shelf clocks as well as many of other types of clocks for home and office. However, whether you buy an antique, vintage collectible or modern Seth Thomas clock, you will still have to remember to fall back in the Fall or spring forward in the Spring.

Rene Lalique - The Best Designer of the 20th Century

Yesterday, in the UK Mirror, there was a story of older woman who was in need of an operation and was trying to find money to finance the procedure. According to the story, the woman went into her attic and started rummaging around for things to sell when she came upon a brooch. At first, she dismissed her find because she thought it had no value, but after more searching, gave up hope and decided to have it's worth determined.

To her surprise, the brooch, which was in the Art Nouveau style, turned out to have been made by Rene Lalique and was worth close to $14,000 in pre-auction estimates. At auction, Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury, Wilts, it sold for more than $100,000. What is interesting is that I have always associated the name Lalique with glass design and never thought about him as a jewelry designer.

As it turns out, the celebrated designer, Rene Lalique, did indeed produce and design some of the most spectacular glass creations of his time but he also designed jewelry, chandeliers, clocks and even hood ornaments. Born in France in 1860, Lalique was an apprentice to Louis Aucoc by the age of 16 and later worked for the prestigious jewelry house, Cartier. In 1886, he opened his own shop and is renowned as one the top Art Nouveau jewelry designers and later for the Art Deco style.

I have never seen a piece of Lalique jewelry and if I did I would probably not know it from any other jeweler or designer in the world. However, I am most familiar with his amazing glass creations and can say that Lalique designed some of the most creative and inspired pieces that I have ever seen. If Lalique put as much enthusiasm and imagination into his jewelry design as he did in his glass creations, I can understand why people are fanatic about the result. Rene Lalique, who was the best designer of the 20th Century, died in 1945.