I picked this up at a garage sale and as near as I can tell it is from 1890ish. It is an E.N. Welch from Connecticut. I don't have much experience with these. Any comments are always welcome.

Nice looking clock. I am not a clock person or much of a watch person anymore. Thought I could add that the maker was probably Elisha Niles Welch from Bristol Ct. He was born about 1809 in Ct.

Thanks Tom. He is the guy alright. Maybe it was just his company as he would have been quite old by the 1890's. I'm pretty sure that is the vintage.

they were the forerunner of the Sessions Clock Company

Hi Mike, Is there a label in the clock? That can help a lot in dating it. My guess is late 1880s to 1903 (I think) when Sessions took over. Mike

Mike,

Very nice E.N. Welch clock. Early in his career E.N. was partnered with J.C. Brown and made clocks under the name of Forestville Clock Company. I have a very fine 8 day O G clock from that company c. 1849.
After the Forestville Clock Company burnt down and declared bankruptcy E.N. started his own company. He passed in 1887 and his son James took over until 1899 when both the movement plant and the clock case plant burned down. The Sessions family bought alot of the Welch stock and started the Sessions Clock Co.
The Welch clock you have appears to have been built during the company's haydays. Nice thick wood that has not warped over time, appears to be hand finished scroll work on the wood, not machine pressed. I see there is an alarm "dial" in the middle of the dial but I do not see the small alarm movememt. Have you removed the dial pan and verified the movement maker and if it is an alarm movement? Is there a label on the back of the clock?
In my opinion Sessions never made a kitchen clock that came close to the workmanship of a Welch.
When the Welch Co. was in financial trouble they added to the workmanship of their clocks instead of cutting corners in hopes of gaining more of the market share.

Hope this helps,

Mike

Thanks all. The movement is marked E. N. Welch Mfg Co., Forestville, Connecticut where their clock factory was. It is a nice piece and is running very well after 12 hours. I did clean it up a bit and can't complain about the results. My wife says I have to sell it because I have too many clocks.

quote:

Forestville, Connecticut

at one point in my life I was living near the Forestville Ct, I was in New Britain Ct.
BTW nice watch Mike
where did you get the idea to start collecting or messing with clocks?

I picked up 4 clocks in the early 70's when I lived in Germany. Then I went to the show in Portland and saw hundreds of clocks and that stirred an interest, and the rest is simply addiction.