WM. L. GILBERT MINIATURE OGEE SHELF CLOCK
INDEX # : 067-C-1293

circa: 1866-1871

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CLOCK STYLE Ogee Shelf
CLOCK NAME O.O.G.

MANUFACTURE

Gilbert Manufacturing Co., Winsted, Conn.






William L. Gilbert (1806-1890)
CASE MODEL # N/A

MOVEMENT TYPE

6 1/2, Brass, 8-day, spring driven, T&S, hour strike on cathedral gong. Top plate is stamped: "Gilbert MFG. CO. / Winsted, Conn."
CASE SIZE & CONSTRUCTION Base = 11 ¾", Height = 18 ¼", Depth = 4"

LABEL INFORMATION

Original label:
"Gilbert Manufacturing Company / Winsted, Conn. / Brass Clocks / Eight Day and Thirty Hour"

DIAL INFORMATION

Original white painted zinc dial (6 3/4" x 6 3/4") with black roman numerals. Some flaking in dial paint. Dial has a 5" chapter ring. Hand written notes on back of dial plate:
1. "J.A. Gibson 5/10/24
2. JAG / clean and adjust / new strike spring / 11/20/26".

Dial glass appears to be original, and is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2", secured in place with three wood strips.

MISC. FEATURES

Rosewood veneer case. Original reverse painting of a bee hive, surrounded by a stencil. Tablet is 5 1/2" x 6" and held in place with three wood strips.
ACQUIRED FROM Antique auction at "Garrett's Galleries" in Dallas, TX.
CONDITION WHEN ACQUIRED Clock in running order.
RESTORATION January 1994 - Cleaned and adjusted movement, cleaned case and set clock to running.

HISTORICAL DATA

William L. Gilbert Clock Corporation factory as it appeared c. 1850

Clock sold for $5.25 as listed in 1875 Wm. L. Gilbert Clock CO. catalog.

William L. Gilbert was born in Litchfield, Ct. on December 30th, 1806, son of James and Abigail Kinney Gilbert.  He spent most of his youth working on the farm with his father.  At age 22, and after borrowing $300 dollars, he and his brother in law went into partnership manufacturing clock parts in Bristol, CT.  This was the start of a long and productive career in the clock making industry for Mr. Gilbert. 

Gilbert and Lucias Clarke  acquired the old Riley Whiting Clock Factory in Winsted/Winchester, Conn. in 1841. They made clocks with the name Clarke, Gilbert & Company, and later as Gilbert and Clarke. In 1851, the company name was changed to W.L. Gilbert and Company. In 1859, the then bankrupt S.B. Terry became Gilbert's movement designer, and Forman for several years. The business operated as the Gilbert Manufacturing Company from 1866 until 1871. It was reorganized as the William L. Gilbert Clock Co. in 1871, and operated under this name until 1934 when the company changed it's name to the William L. Gilbert Clock Corp. From 1941 until 1945, the U.S. government permitted the company to manufacture paper mache clocks (especially alarm clocks) since metal was needed for W.W.II and alarm clocks were in demand. The corporation was taken over in 1957 by General Computing Machines Co., which operated it under the name General-Gilbert Corp. In 1964 it was sold off to the Spartus Corp. located in Louisville, Mississippi. William Gilbert died in June 1890.

One of his biographers wrote "His habits were simple and regular, his wants few, his life frugal.  He was always a temperance man in principal and practice.  In connection with strict, careful and methodical attention to business, he developed a capacity for managing and controlling affairs and men that secured him a large property and gave him a place in the front rank of the business men of the state"

REFERENCES 1. "American Clocks and Clockmakers" by Robert W. & Harriett Swedburg, 1989, brief company history on page 17.      
2
.  NAWCC Bulletin #177, August 1975 - Article on Gilbert History
NOTES N/A

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