WILLIAM L. GILBERT CLOCK COMPANY
On July 5, 1871, the William L. Gilbert Clock Company was formed at
In July of 1873, the new factory complex was completed and manufacturing commenced.
Bankruptcy and liquidation were barely avoided in 1914 and a new manager, Charles E. Williams, was appointed and served until his death in 1930, just a few months following the stock market crash. Pressures of the Great Depression and money spent in developing electronic clocks sent the firm into receivership in September, 1932.
On July 20,1934, a new firm known as the William L. Gilbert Clock Corporation was formed to succeed the earlier company. It was one of the few firms allowed to continue clockmaking during World War 11 because it was able to manufacture clocks without metal cases, having installed machinery in 1940 to produce cases from molded papier-mache. They had modest profits after the war and in 1954 tooled up to produce an adding machine for General Computing Machines Corporation. In 1957, they were taken over by General. In December, 1964, the clockmaking division was sold to Spartus Corporation of Chicago, not having produced a profit for about 12 years. The factory in Winsted was closed at that time.
 |
