This Seth Thomas on ebay says it is made in Canada. Did ST have a factory there?

click here

Andy

...yes, I understand that in 1919 the Western Clock Company (Westclox) was established as a subsidiary of Seth Thomas and eventually employed about 1800+ 'ees making luminous clocks and watches including Big & Baby Bens in Peterborough Ontario which is about 200 miles east of Toronto...here is a postcard photo of the plant...

If what is said in the dialog on this auction, Seth Thomas had other associations as well.
Sangamo and Seth Thomas??
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&ss...0060377867&rd=1&rd=1

In 1930 General Time Instruments Corporation was formed as a holding company to accomodate the merger of Western Clock Co. and Seth Thomas Clock Co.

In 1931General Time purchased Hamilton-Sangamo. The Hamilton-Sangamo corp. was a joint effort of the Hamilton Watch Co. and the Sangamo electric Co.

Before the merger the Western Clock Co. had already established first an office in Toronto in 1912, and then in 1919 a factory in Peterborough, Ont. **

Perhaps it is through this connection that some Seth Thomas clocks came to have Canadian labels.

** Westclox by Jim Linz, Shiffer Press

What prompted me to ask was that a few weeks ago at a local auction, there was a Seth Thomas triple decker, with a "made for..." lable on it, a Canadian Clock company or distributer. I wish I had written down the name of the company. Now it looks like this one I saw would have been made in USA by ST and exported to Canada, but the one on ebay was actually made by the CA ST division. Funny, I swear I have seen that factory building postcard before!

Thanks guys!

Andy

Good timing!
I just finished presenting on this topic at a Historical Society last weekend. While I doubt that the triple decker was actually made in Canada, Seth Thomas made weight driven clocks in the 1850s and 1860s for Canadian peddlars such as T.L. Abel, B.B Bartlett, S.J. Southworth, A.H. Brown and W.H. Van Tassel (Brockville), J.M. Patterson and R.W. Patterson & Co.
We do see many mantel clocks up here made in the Peterborough plant however they are of a much later vintage. The clock on the right is a Patterson & Co clock.
gp

Grant,
I just looked at the list of clocks at the auction. I made a note on the list that the label had written on it: "for SJ Southworth, Lees County, Canada West". I don't remember much about it, it did need to be restored. It sold for $500.

Andy