Seth Thomas Office Calendar No. 6 wall clock. KK-156.
This is a very good example of a Seth Thomas Office Calendar No. 6 wall clock. The case is constructed in walnut and retains an older finish that is most likely original to this clock. It has darkened over the years and is now a subdued color. The Seth Thomas Clock Co. is notorious for needing its clock dials repainted. They had difficulty keeping paint on their dials. This clock retains its painted original dials, and they are nearly perfect and untouched. Both dials are painted on tin. The upper time dial measures 12 inches in diameter and displays the maker's trademark, "ST / USA." The lower calendar dial measures 10 inches in diameter and displays the calendar day around the perimeter and the patent date for the calendar mechanism. This reads, "Patented Feb. 15, 1876." The day of the week and the month are displayed through a rectangular shaped window. These roles are covered in paper and are original to the clock. They are in excellent condition. The eight-day spring wound movement strikes the hour on a bell. The movement construction is brass with steel pinions. The front plate bears the clockmaker's die-stamp. The calendar mechanism is perpetual. This means that the calendar display will adjust automatically for the variations in the lengths of months and also for leap year.
This clock is 32 inches long, 15.5 inches wide, and 5.5 inches deep. It was made circa 1885.
Inventory number KK-156.
Seth Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut, in 1785. He was apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner and worked building houses and barns. He started in the clock business in 1807, working for clockmaker Eli Terry. Thomas formed a clock-making partnership in Plymouth, Connecticut, with Eli Terry and Silas Hoadley as Terry, Thomas & Hoadley. In 1810, he bought Terry’s clock business, making tall clocks with wooden movements. He chose to sell his partnership in 1812, moving in 1813 to Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut, where he set up a factory to make metal-movement clocks. In 1817, he added shelf and mantel clocks. By the mid-1840s, He successfully transitioned to brass movements and expanded his operations by building a brass rolling mill and a cotton factory. His clock business expanded until it became one of the “BIG Seven” in Connecticut and competed at every price point, from kitchen clocks to precision regulators. He made the clock that is used in Fireman’s Hall. He died in 1859, at which point the company was taken over by his son, Aaron, who added many styles and improvements after his father’s death. The company went out of business in the 1980s.
