Internet Horology Club 185
JAZ with and without the bird.

This topic can be found at:
https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/990103944/m/9913929897

February 24, 2024, 23:02
Greg Crockett
JAZ with and without the bird.
One of my friends over in France collects alarm clocks. We don't see French JAZ alarm clocks in the U.S., so my friend had to explain the significance of the bird. Which is a story of fascist politics in WWII. Prior to the invasion of France in 1940, these little clocks only have the word JAZ on the face. For Nazis this was an issue! They contended that Jaz music was degenerate and the product of racially inferior Americans. So, the French manufacturers of the JAZ alarm clocks placed a bird above the word Jaz to signify that Jaz referred to the short form of the French name for a local species of bird. Issue solved, they could continue manufacturing and selling their clocks. (A little bird told me that many Nazis and Europeans continued to listen and even dance to Jaz music during the war years, but don't tell Himmler.)

To the left is a post-1940 JAZ with bird. To the right is a pre-1940 JAZ without the bird. (Does anyone feel like flipping the bird at the Fascists?)


February 24, 2024, 23:05
Greg Crockett
This pre-1940 JAZ clock is in remarkably good condition with an original box.


February 24, 2024, 23:06
Greg Crockett
The reverse side of the clock


February 25, 2024, 07:43
Dr. Debbie Irvine

Interesting tidbit - thanks Greg!