The New England Clock Company

I have had many "New England Clock Company" clocks cross my workbench during the past few decades, and am amazed as the variety of cases and movements this company produced.
The New England Clock Company has roots dating back to around 1835 when Jonathan Clark Brown and a bunch of investors started up a business named the Forestville Manufacturing Company in Forestville, Connecticut. Forestville is a section of Bristol where my father and uncles "Phillips Automotive" sold and serviced International Harvester trucks and Studebaker Packard automobiles. Forestville Manufacturing went bankrupt about 25 years later and Eliha Nils Welch, one of the debtors, absorbed it by default. For 10 years, he ran a tight ship and the company prospered. It was renamed the E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company in 1864. Welch produced a number of clocks including movements for other clock manufacturing companies and specialized in producing various springs for mechanical devices.

At the turn of the 20th century, E. N. Welch clock company wasn't doing very well. As part of their manufacturing process, they used a local foundry just down the road in order to produce castings. The foundry owner's son, William Sessions, took an interest in horology and bought the controlling stock in the E. N. Welch Company. In 1903, Welch jumped out and the Sessions Clock Company was organized. Under William's authority, the Sessions Clock Company produced everything required for their line of clocks .. movements, cases, dials, artwork and of coarse, castings.

Sessions realized that the future of clock making was turning to electricity, so in 1930, the company expanded to produce electric clocks, timers for radios, televisions and other devices. They also kept producing traditional brass mechanical movements. In 1956, Sessions was absorbed by a company interested mainly in their timing devices. Kept as the Sessions Company, the new owners ran the operation until 1969 when the decline in business forced its liquidation.

William K. Sessions, grandson of William E., disliked working for the new company, so in 1959, he left to form The New England Clock Company. Wm Session  had a place called "Sessions Woods",  Bill worked out of his cellar designing a kind of contemporary collection of clocks; however, colonial was in at that time so the New England Clock Company emphasized colonial timepieces with floral decoration. With the advice of his wife Phebe, they also organized The Connecticut Clock Company. Phebe became the president. Nils Magnus Tornquist, an industrial designer produced many innovative manufacturing ideas and case designs. During the late 1960's, they even manufactured a cuckoo clock "The American Cuckoo Bird", a rarity in modern American clock making. Ten years later, they offered clock kits. Connecticut Kits were somewhat pricy, but well-worth it. The kits offered no choices such as inexpensive dials or movements. Their Abel Cotty line of grandfather clocks was named after America's first clock maker (circa 1655).

The New England Clock Company moved three times before ending up in Farmington, CT. Old Bill Sessions was no longer around and the company was absorbed by a group of investors left-over from International Silver Company in the late 80's. Their modern, one story plant produced traditional and transitional styles as well as historical reproductions of the past. Although fitted with German mechanical movements, the clocks were entirely made in the USA. Their case work was superb, but the cost of operation in today's American society proved overwhelming. In late 1999 The New England Clock Company was going under and there were dumpsters outside the building loaded with all kinds of goodies. By 2000 the dumpsters had disappeared., The New England Clock Company followed the road taken by all of the other clock companies that formed its history.