Self Winding Clock Company. The "Massachusetts" wall clock. 216098.
It is a long-standing story in the clock trade that this model, the "Massachusetts," was initially made and hung in the Massachusetts State House.
This ornamental cast bronze facade measures approximately 29.5 inches long, 25 inches wide, and 6 inches deep. It features a dial that is 14 inches in diameter. The Roman hour numerals are raised. The minute and hour hands are spectacular. They are also bronze and wonderfully detailed. The outer section is decorated with runs of laurel along the sides. At the top is an hourglass and a pair of feathered wings. This is symbolism for the age-old adage that time flies.
The movement is categorized as the style "A." It features brass plates and steel gearing. The pinions and arbors are cut from the best tool steel, hardened, tempered, and polished. The escapement is a Graham Dead beat with extra oversized pallets. It is very good quality. The front plate is stamped "Self Winding Clock Co." It also has the Seth Thomas logo "ST." This movement is powered by a spring that is wound once an hour by an electrically powered winder of the rotary type having three pairs of magnets. The equivalent of two D-cell batteries supplies the electrical power. Set up correctly, this clock should run longer than a year before the batteries need to be replaced.
This clock was made circa 1908 and appears in their catalog.
Inventory number 216098.
The Self Winding Clock Company (SWCC) was formed in New York City in 1886 by Charles Platt in collaboration with Henry Pond. This company became a significant manufacturer of electromechanical clocks from 1886 until about 1970. The Self Winding Clock Company clock mechanisms were truly revolutionary for their time. The spring-powered mechanisms that powered the clock was not wound by hand but with an electric motor. This made the SWCC of New York one of the first companies in the United States to successfully employ electric energy to power a clock. Their design attached the winding motor below the conventional clockworks. A small electric motor automatically rewinds the main spring each hour. A contact switch is mounted on the clock's center shaft. This is activated after the clock has run for one hour. Then, the main spring is rewound one revolution. This rewinding occurs each hour. Batteries supply the power for the motor. These batteries are designed to last approximately one year before they need to be replaced. The result is that this type of clock mechanism is never wound by hand, eliminating the concern that someone may need to remember to wind the clock. Hence the company name, The Self-Winding Clock Company. A series of patents protected their designs.
From the late 1800s until the mid-1900s, self-winding clocks earned an important role in horological history. They provided robust and reliable time synchronization across the country. They serviced railroads, other transportation industries, factories, schools, retail stores, and other businesses. Many of them were decommissioned by 1960 and are slowly finding their way into the caring hands of horological collectors.
