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{{Short description|American global watch manufacturing company}}
{{Lead rewrite|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox company
{{ infobox company
| name = Timex Group USA, Inc.
| name = Timex Group USA, Inc.
| logo = [[File:Timex-Group-Logo.svg|center|200px|alt=Timex Group|Timex Group Logo]]
| logo = [[file:Timex-Group-Logo.svg|frameless|Timex Group Logo]]
| former_names = {{flatlist|
| former_names = Waterbury Clock Company, Timex Corporation
| type = [[Subsidiary]]
*Waterbury Clock Company
| industry = [[Luxury goods]]
*Timex Corporation
| foundation = {{start date and age|1854|paren=y}}
}}
| location = [[Middlebury, Connecticut]], with various operations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia
| type = Subsidiary
| products = [[Watches]]
| industry = Manufacturer
| area_served = Worldwide
| foundation = 1854 (166 years ago)
| key_people = {{ubl|Tobias Reiss-Schmidt<br />(President & CEO)|Colin Arsenault<br />(CFO)}}
| location = [[Middlebury, Connecticut]], with various operations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia
| num_employees = 7,000
| products = Watches
| parent = [[Timex Group]]
| owner =
| homepage = {{official URL}}
|key_people = Tobias Reiss-Schmidt, President & CEO<br>Colin Arsenault, CFO
| num_employees = 2,000
| parent = [[Timex Group]]
| homepage = {{URL|www.timex.com}}
}}
}}


'''Timex Group USA, Inc.''' (formerly known as '''Timex Corporation''') is an American manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in [[Waterbury, Connecticut]]. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into '''Timex Corporation'''. In 2008, the company was acquired by Timex Group B.V. and was renamed Timex Group USA.
'''Timex Group USA, Inc.''' (formerly known as '''Timex Corporation''') is an American global [[watch]] manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the '''Waterbury Clock Company''' in [[Waterbury, Connecticut]]. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into '''Timex Corporation'''. In 2008, the company was acquired by Timex Group B.V. and was renamed Timex Group USA.


Thomas Olsen purchased the Waterbury Clock Company in 1941 and renamed it ''Timex'', a portmanteau of ''Time'' (referring to [[Time magazine]]) and [[Kleenex]].<ref name="kleenex">{{cite web
Thomas Olsen purchased the Waterbury Clock Company in New York in 1941 and renamed it ''Timex'', a [[portmanteau]] of the names of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine and [[Kleenex]].<ref name="kleenex">{{cite web | title = The crazy, true-life adventures of Norway's most radical billionaire | publisher = Fortune | author = Shawn Tully | date = 7 March 2015 | url = http://fortune.com/2015/03/07/fred-olsen/}}</ref>
| title = The crazy, true-life adventures of Norway's most radical billionaire
| publisher = Fortune
| author = Shawn Tully
| date = 7 March 2015
| url = http://fortune.com/2015/03/07/fred-olsen/}}</ref>


==History ==
== History ==


=== Waterbury Clock Company (1854–1944) ===
=== Waterbury Clock Company (1854–1944) ===


Brass manufacturer [[Benedict & Burnham]] created Waterbury Clock Company in 1854 to manufacture clocks using brass wheels and gears. Waterbury Clock Company was legally incorporated on March 27, 1857, as an independent business with $60,000 in capital.<ref name="WaterburyVol2WCC">{{Cite book | title=The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2 | last1= Anderson | first1= Joseph | last2= Prichard | first2= Sarah Johnson | last3= Lydia Ward | first3= Anna | year= 1896 | publisher= The Price and Lee Company | location= New Haven, CT | pages= 377–380 | chapter= Chapter XXIII The Smaller Brass Companies | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H_cLAAAAYAAJ&q=waterbury+clock&pg=PA379 | access-date=2 November 2009|lccn= 98000206 }}</ref><ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-224">{{Cite book | title=History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume 1 | last= Pape | first= William Jamieson | year= 1918 | publisher= The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company | location= Chicago – New York | page= 224 | chapter= Chapter XVIII Clocks, Watches, Pins, Needles, Hooks and Eyes | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LwwWAAAAYAAJ&q=waterbury+clock+company&pg=PA225 | access-date=6 November 2009|lccn= 18021396 }}</ref> The American clock industry was producing millions of clocks with scores of companies located in Connecticut's [[Naugatuck River Valley]], earning the region the nickname "Switzerland of America".<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.completenewengland.com/2006/01/26/the-switzerland-of-america/ |title=The Switzerland of America |author=Cliff Calderwood |date=26 January 2006 |publisher=Complete New England |access-date=4 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908032033/http://www.completenewengland.com/2006/01/26/the-switzerland-of-america/ |archive-date=8 September 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The Waterbury Clock Company was one of the largest producers for both domestic sales and export, primarily to Europe.<ref name="WaterburyVol2WCC" />
Brass manufacturer [[Benedict & Burnham]] created Waterbury Clock Company in 1854 to manufacture clocks using brass wheels and gears. Waterbury Clock Company was legally incorporated on March 27, 1857 as an independent business with $60,000 in capital.<ref name="WaterburyVol2WCC">
{{Cite book
|title=The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2
|last1= Anderson
|first1= Joseph
|last2= Prichard
|first2= Sarah Johnson
|last3= Lydia Ward
|first3= Anna
|year= 1896
|publisher= The Price and Lee Company
|location= New Haven, CT
|pages= 377–380
|chapter= Chapter XXIII The Smaller Brass Companies
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/?id=H_cLAAAAYAAJ&dq=waterbury%20clock&pg=PA379#v=onepage&q=waterbury%20clock
|accessdate=2 November 2009|lccn= 98000206
}}</ref><ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-224">{{Cite book
|title=History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume 1
|last= Pape
|first= William Jamieson
|year= 1918
|publisher= The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
|location= Chicago – New York
|page= 224
|chapter= Chapter XVIII Clocks, Watches, Pins, Needles, Hooks and Eyes
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/?id=LwwWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA225&dq=waterbury+clock+company#v=onepage&q=waterbury%20clock%20company
|accessdate=6 November 2009|lccn= 18021396
}}</ref> The American clock industry was producing millions of clocks with scores of companies located in Connecticut's [[Naugatuck River Valley]], earning the region the nickname "Switzerland of America".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.completenewengland.com/2006/01/26/the-switzerland-of-america/ |title=The Switzerland of America |author=Cliff Calderwood |date=26 January 2006 |publisher=Complete New England |accessdate=4 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908032033/http://www.completenewengland.com/2006/01/26/the-switzerland-of-america/ |archivedate=8 September 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The Waterbury Clock Company was one of the largest producers for both domestic sales and export, primarily to Europe.<ref name="WaterburyVol2WCC" /> Its successor today is Timex Group USA, Inc. which is the only remaining watch company in the region, although [[Breitling SA|Breitling]] has offices in nearby [[Wilton, Connecticut|Wilton]].


====Ingersoll Watch Company====
==== Ingersoll Watch Company ====
{{main|Ingersoll Watch Company}}
{{main|Ingersoll Watch Company}}
[[File:Ingersoll Watch Company.jpg|thumbnail|[[Ingersoll Watch Company]]]]
[[File:Ingersoll Watch Company.jpg|thumbnail|[[Ingersoll Watch Company]]]]
The company originally produced clocks as less expensive alternatives to the high-end European counterparts of the time.<ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|pages= 20–21
|chapter= Chapter 1: Mass Producing Time, 1817–1887}}</ref> In 1887, they introduced the large ''Jumbo'' pocket watch, invented by Archibald Bannatyne and named after the famous [[P. T. Barnum]] elephant.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /> The ''Jumbo'' was put on the market in New York City on a trial basis, catching the attention of Robert H. Ingersoll, a salesman and eventual marketing pioneer.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-224" /> During the turn of the century, Waterbury Clock Company produced millions of pocket watches for the [[Ingersoll Watch Company|Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro.]] watch company, in which Robert partnered with his brother Charles.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /> In 1896, Ingersoll introduced the ''Ingersoll Yankee'', a [[Dollar watch|dollar pocket watch]] supplied by Waterbury Clock Company.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-224" /> These watches gained such great popularity that they became known as ''"the watch that made the dollar famous."''<ref>{{cite book |title= Time telling through the ages |last= Brearley |first= Harry |year= 1919 |publisher= Doubleday, Page & Co. |location= New York |pages=196–205 |chapter= Chapter Sixteen "The Watch That Made the Dollar Famous" |chapterurl= https://books.google.com/books?id=5Cjm14CkQZwC&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q&f=false |accessdate= 16 April 2010|lccn= 20001749 }}</ref>


The company originally produced clocks as less expensive alternatives to the high-end European counterparts of the time.<ref>{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | pages= 20–21 | chapter= Chapter 1: Mass Producing Time, 1817–1887}}</ref> In 1887, they introduced the large ''Jumbo'' pocket watch, invented by Archibald Bannatyne and named after the famous [[P. T. Barnum]] elephant.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /> The ''Jumbo'' was put on the market in New York City on a trial basis, catching the attention of Robert H. Ingersoll, a salesman and eventual marketing pioneer.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-224" /> During the turn of the century, Waterbury Clock Company produced millions of pocket watches for the [[Ingersoll Watch Company|Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro.]] watch company, in which Robert partnered with his brother Charles.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /> In 1896, Ingersoll introduced the ''Ingersoll Yankee'', a [[Dollar watch|dollar pocket watch]] supplied by Waterbury Clock Company.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-224" /> These watches gained such great popularity that they became known as ''"the watch that made the dollar famous."''<ref>{{cite book |title= Time telling through the ages |last= Brearley |first= Harry |year= 1919 |publisher= Doubleday, Page & Co. |location= New York |pages=196–205 |chapter= Chapter Sixteen "The Watch That Made the Dollar Famous" |isbn= 9780598742780 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5Cjm14CkQZwC&pg=PA196 |access-date= 16 April 2010|lccn= 20001749 }}</ref>
====Waterbury Watch Company====

==== Waterbury Watch Company ====

In 1877, a new prototype was introduced to Benedict and Burnham for an inexpensive pocket watch made of 58 parts, mostly punched sheet brass. They immediately set aside an unused portion of their machine shop and began producing the ''Long Wind'' at a rate of 200 per day by 1878. The department quickly outgrew its space in the plant, so Benedict & Burnham incorporated Waterbury Clock's sister company Waterbury Watch Company in 1880 with a capital of $400,000 to manufacture and sell inexpensive watches and other timepieces.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-225-226">{{Cite book | title=History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume 1 | last= Pape | first= William Jamieson | year= 1918 | publisher= The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company | location= Chicago; New York | pages= 225–226 | chapter= Chapter XVIII Clocks, Watches, Pins, Needles, Hooks and Eyes | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LwwWAAAAYAAJ&q=waterbury+clock+company&pg=PA225 | access-date=16 April 2010|lccn= 18021396 }}</ref><ref name="WaterburyVol2WWC">{{Cite book | title=The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2 | last1= Anderson | first1= Joseph | last2= Prichard | first2= Sarah Johnson | last3= Lydia Ward | first3= Anna | year= 1896 | publisher= The Price and Lee Company | location= New Haven, CT | pages= 399–402 | chapter= Chapter XXIII The Smaller Brass Companies | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H_cLAAAAYAAJ&q=waterbury+clock&pg=PA379 | access-date=9 February 2010|lccn= 98000206 }}</ref> Waterbury Watch started out very successfully in its early days, employing hundreds of women for their "slender fingers" and "delicate manipulation", and it became the largest-volume producer of watches in the world by 1888.<ref>{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 36 | chapter= Chapter 2: The Rise of the Dollar Watch, 1880–1914}}</ref>


In 1877, a new prototype was introduced{{by whom|date=October 2019}} to Benedict and Burnham for an inexpensive pocket watch made of 58 parts, mostly punched sheet brass. They immediately set aside an unused portion of their machine shop and began producing the ''Long Wind'' at a rate of 200 per day by 1878. The department quickly outgrew its space in the plant, so Benedict & Burnham incorporated Waterbury Clock's sister company Waterbury Watch Company in 1880 with a capital of $400,000 to manufacture and sell inexpensive watches and other timepieces.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-225-226">{{Cite book
|title=History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume 1
|last= Pape
|first= William Jamieson
|year= 1918
|publisher= The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
|location= Chicago – New York
|pages= 225–226
|chapter= Chapter XVIII Clocks, Watches, Pins, Needles, Hooks and Eyes
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/?id=LwwWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA225&dq=waterbury+clock+company#v=onepage&q=waterbury%20clock%20company
|accessdate=16 April 2010|lccn= 18021396
}}</ref><ref name="WaterburyVol2WWC">
{{Cite book
|title=The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2
|last1= Anderson
|first1= Joseph
|last2= Prichard
|first2= Sarah Johnson
|last3= Lydia Ward
|first3= Anna
|year= 1896
|publisher= The Price and Lee Company
|location= New Haven, CT
|pages= 399–402
|chapter= Chapter XXIII The Smaller Brass Companies
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/?id=H_cLAAAAYAAJ&dq=waterbury%20clock&pg=PA379#v=onepage&q=waterbury%20clock
|accessdate=9 February 2010|lccn= 98000206
}}</ref> Waterbury Watch started out very successfully in its early days, employing hundreds of women for their "slender fingers" and "delicate manipulation", and it became the largest-volume producer of watches in the world by 1888.<ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 36
|chapter= Chapter 2: The Rise of the Dollar Watch, 1880–1914}}</ref>
[[File:Timex T5E901 Ironman Triathlon 30 Lap FLIX.jpg|alt=Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'|thumb|A Timex Ironman watch]]
[[File:Timex T5E901 Ironman Triathlon 30 Lap FLIX.jpg|alt=Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'|thumb|A Timex Ironman watch]]


Waterbury Watch quickly fell into bankruptcy, however, due to poor sales techniques where ''jobbers'' and salesmen gave away much of the product as [[loss leader]]s with little regard to the company's future, thereby cheapening the products' perceived value.<ref name="WaterburyVol2WWC" /> In a last attempt to salvage the company, Waterbury Watch began to produce higher-end watch models which only created more demand on a workforce unable to keep up with the complexity of the new watches using several hundred parts. The company was finally reorganized as the New England Watch Company in 1898, as its London sales office was placed into liquidation.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-225-226" /> The company continued to focus on high-priced watch models and eventually fell into receivership, discontinuing business in July 1912. Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. bought the Waterbury plant and began manufacturing Ingersoll Watches there in 1914.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-225-226" />
Waterbury Watch quickly fell into bankruptcy, however, due to poor sales techniques where ''jobbers'' and salesmen gave away much of the product as [[loss leader]]s with little regard to the company's future, thereby cheapening the products' perceived value.<ref name="WaterburyVol2WWC" /> In a last attempt to salvage the company, Waterbury Watch began to produce higher-end watch models which only created more demand on a workforce unable to keep up with the complexity of the new watches using several hundred parts. The company was finally reorganized as the New England Watch Company in 1898, as its London sales office was placed into liquidation.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-225-226" /> The company continued to focus on high-priced watch models and eventually fell into receivership, discontinuing business in July 1912. Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. bought the Waterbury plant and began manufacturing Ingersoll Watches there in 1914.<ref name="HistoryWaterburyNaugatuckVol1-225-226" />


====Advent of the wristwatch====
==== Advent of the wristwatch ====

[[World War I]] brought new demands for timepiece design; artillery gunners, for example, needed an easy way to calculate and read time while still being able to work the guns. The Waterbury Clock Company met this need by modifying their small Ingersoll ladies' ''Midget'' pocket watch. They added lugs for a canvas strap, repositioned the crown to 3 o'clock, and made the hands and numbers luminescent for nighttime readability, thus producing one of the first wristwatches.<ref name="JCK20050101" /><ref>
[[World War I]] brought new demands for timepiece design; artillery gunners, for example, needed an easy way to calculate and read time while still being able to work the guns. The Waterbury Clock Company met this need by modifying their small Ingersoll ladies' ''Midget'' pocket watch. They added lugs for a canvas strap, repositioned the crown to 3 o'clock, and made the hands and numbers luminescent for nighttime readability, thus producing one of the first wristwatches.<ref name="JCK20050101" /><ref>
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott. | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 69 | chapter= Chapter 3: The Triumph of the Wristwatch, 1917–1941}}</ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott.
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 69
|chapter= Chapter 3: The Triumph of the Wristwatch, 1917–1941}}</ref>


In 1922, Waterbury Clock Company purchased the [[Ingersoll Watch Company|Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro.]] company for $1.5 million. The firm had gone bankrupt the previous year due to the post-war recession.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime">{{Cite book | title=Encyclopedia of Time | last= Macey | first= Samuel L. | year= 1994 | publisher= Taylor & Francis | isbn= 0-8153-0615-6 | page= 122 | chapter= Clocks: America and Mass Production, 1770–1890 | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=F7wNQk219KMC&q=waterbury%20clock%20company&pg=PA122 | access-date=6 November 2009}}</ref><ref name="NYT19211228">{{Cite news | date = 28 December 1921 | title = Ingersoll Watch Makers Bankrupt | periodical =The New York Times | page =14 | url =https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE6D6113EEE3ABC4051DFB467838A639EDE | access-date =9 February 2010 }}</ref> However, Waterbury Clock was unable to deliver on Ingersoll's guarantee of quality in Europe due to the Great Depression, so they sold the London-based Ingersoll, Ltd. to its board of directors in 1930, making it a wholly British-owned enterprise. The Ingersoll brand name was continued in the United States by Waterbury Clock into the 1950s,<ref name="WatchTime200710">{{cite journal |last=Buchanan |first=Norma |year=2007 |title=Inside the New Timex |journal=WatchTime |publisher=Ebner Publishing International |issue=October 2007 |pages=112–119 |url=http://www.watchtime.at/archive/wt_2007_05/WT_2007_05_112.pdf}}</ref> while Ingersoll Ltd. produced the Ingersoll watch brand independently for the European and other markets.
In 1922, Waterbury Clock Company purchased the [[Ingersoll Watch Company|Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro.]] company for $1.5 million. The firm had gone bankrupt the previous year due to the post-war recession.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime">{{Cite book
|title=Encyclopedia of Time
|last= Macey
|first= Samuel L.
|year= 1994
|publisher= Taylor & Francis
|isbn= 0-8153-0615-6
|page= 122
|chapter= Clocks: America and Mass Production, 1770–1890
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/?id=F7wNQk219KMC&lpg=PA122&dq=waterbury%20clock%20company&pg=PA122#v=onepage&q
|accessdate=6 November 2009}}</ref><ref name="NYT19211228">{{Cite news
|date = 28 December 1921
|title = Ingersoll Watch Makers Bankrupt
|periodical =The New York Times
|publisher =The New York Times
|page =14
|url =https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE6D6113EEE3ABC4051DFB467838A639EDE
|accessdate =9 February 2010
}}</ref> However, Waterbury Clock was unable to deliver on Ingersoll's guarantee of quality in Europe due to the Great Depression, so they sold the London-based Ingersoll, Ltd. to its board of directors in 1930, making it a wholly British-owned enterprise. The Ingersoll brand name was continued in the United States by Waterbury Clock into the 1950s,<ref name="WatchTime200710">{{cite journal |last=Buchanan |first=Norma |year=2007 |title=Inside the New Timex |journal=WatchTime |publisher=Ebner Publishing International |issue=October 2007 |pages=112–119 |url=http://www.watchtime.at/archive/wt_2007_05/WT_2007_05_112.pdf}}</ref> while Ingersoll Ltd. produced the Ingersoll watch brand independently for the European and other markets.


Waterbury Clock Company regained its identity in the consumer market after the Great Depression and a period of hardship. They reached a license agreement with [[Walt Disney]] in 1930 to produce the famous [[Mickey Mouse]] watches and clocks under the Ingersoll brand name. They introduced the Mickey Mouse timepieces to the public at the [[Century of Progress|Chicago World's Fair]] in June 1933, and they quickly became the company's first million-dollar line, saving it from financial disaster.<ref name="WatchTime200710" /><ref>
Waterbury Clock Company regained its identity in the consumer market after the Great Depression and a period of hardship. They reached a license agreement with [[Walt Disney]] in 1930 to produce the famous [[Mickey Mouse]] watches and clocks under the Ingersoll brand name. They introduced the Mickey Mouse timepieces to the public at the [[Century of Progress|Chicago World's Fair]] in June 1933, and they quickly became the company's first million-dollar line, saving it from financial disaster.<ref name="WatchTime200710" /><ref>{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | pages= 87–90 | chapter= Chapter 3: The Triumph of the Wristwatch, 1917–1941}}</ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|pages= 87–90
|chapter= Chapter 3: The Triumph of the Wristwatch, 1917–1941}}</ref>


[[Thomas Fredrik Olsen|Thomas Olsen]] was the owner of [[Fred. Olsen & Co.|Fred. Olsen Shipping Co.]], and he fled Norway in 1940 together with [[Joakim Lehmkuhl]] and their families because of the Nazi invasion.<ref name="TimeSelfWinder">{{Cite news | date = 26 December 1955 | title = INDUSTRY: Self-Winder | periodical = Time Magazine | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808051-1,00.html | accessdate = 20 April 2010}}</ref> They eventually came to the United States seeking investments to assist in the war effort. Olsen and Lehmkuhl purchased controlling interest in Waterbury Clock Company in 1941, and Olsen became chairman.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /><ref name="JCK20050101" /><ref name="ManufacturingTime">
[[Thomas Fredrik Olsen|Thomas Olsen]] was the owner of [[Fred. Olsen & Co.|Fred. Olsen Shipping Co.]], and he fled Norway in 1940 together with [[Joakim Lehmkuhl]] and their families because of the Nazi invasion.<ref name="TimeSelfWinder">{{Cite news | date = 26 December 1955 | title = INDUSTRY: Self-Winder | periodical = Time Magazine | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808051-1,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080209154055/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808051-1,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 9 February 2008 | access-date = 20 April 2010}}</ref> They eventually came to the United States seeking investments to assist in the war effort. Olsen and Lehmkuhl purchased controlling interest in Waterbury Clock Company in 1941, and Olsen became chairman.<ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /><ref name="JCK20050101" /><ref name="ManufacturingTime">{{Cite book | title=Manufacturing time: global competition in the watch industry, 1795–2000 | last= Glasmeier | first= Amy | year= 2000 | publisher= Guilford Press | isbn= 1-57230-589-4 | pages= 189–192 | chapter= Chapter 9 Only the Young Survive: The U.S. Watch Industry between the World Wars and after World War II | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cVUSauNST8EC&q=waterbury%20clock%20company%20World%20War&pg=PA189 | access-date=6 November 2009}}</ref> Olson appointed Lehmkuhl president, who had studied business and engineering at Harvard and MIT, and the company became the largest producer of fuse timers for precision defense products in the United States under his direction.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /> They built a new concrete plant in nearby Middlebury, Connecticut in 88 days in 1942 for the high-volume production of precision timers.<!--<ref>{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 103 | chapter= Chapter 4: Founding Timex, 1941–1958}}</ref>--><ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /> In August 1943, the Under-Secretary of War awarded the Waterbury Clock Company the [[Army-Navy "E" Award]] for excellence for their "Anglo-American fuse", and shareholders voted the following December to rename the company United States Time Corporation.<ref>{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 112 | chapter= Chapter 4: Founding Timex, 1941–1958}}</ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Manufacturing time: global competition in the watch industry, 1795–2000
|last= Glasmeier
|first= Amy
|year= 2000
|publisher= Guilford Press
|isbn= 1-57230-589-4
|pages= 189–192
|chapter= Chapter 9 Only the Young Survive: The U.S. Watch Industry between the World Wars and after World War II
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/?id=cVUSauNST8EC&pg=PA189&dq=waterbury+clock+company+World+War&q=waterbury%20clock%20company%20World%20War
|accessdate=6 November 2009}}</ref> Olson appointed Lehmkuhl president, who had studied business and engineering at Harvard and MIT, and the company became the largest producer of fuse timers for precision defense products in the United States under his direction.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /> They built a new concrete plant in nearby Middlebury, Connecticut in 88 days in 1942 for the high-volume production of precision timers.<!--<ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 103
|chapter= Chapter 4: Founding Timex, 1941–1958}}</ref>--><ref name="EncyclopediaOfTime" /> In August 1943, the Under-Secretary of War awarded the Waterbury Clock Company the [[Army-Navy "E" Award]] for excellence for their "Anglo-American fuse", and shareholders voted the following December to rename the company United States Time Corporation.<ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 112
|chapter= Chapter 4: Founding Timex, 1941–1958}}</ref>


===United States Time Corporation (1944–1969)===
=== United States Time Corporation (1944–1969 )===
Sales declined after the [[Korean War]] in the 1950s because of diminishing defense orders, and United States Time president Lehmkuhl was convinced that an inexpensive watch would be a market success if it was both accurate and durable. He felt that low cost could be accomplished through the combination of automation, the precision tooling techniques used in making fuse timers, and a simpler design than that of higher-priced Swiss watches. Durability was accomplished through a new hard alloy called ''Armalloy'', developed through wartime research. ''Armalloy'' was used to produce longwearing bearings, replacing the expensive jewels traditionally used in a watch's movement.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /> These innovations led to the debut of the Timex brand in 1950, though the name was first used on a small trial shipment of nurses' watches in 1945.<ref>
Sales declined after the [[Korean War]] in the 1950s because of diminishing defense orders, and United States Time president Lehmkuhl was convinced that an inexpensive watch would be a market success if it was both accurate and durable. He felt that low cost could be accomplished through the combination of automation, the precision tooling techniques used in making fuse timers, and a simpler design than that of higher-priced Swiss watches. Durability was accomplished through a new hard alloy called ''Armalloy'', developed through wartime research. ''Armalloy'' was used to produce longwearing bearings, replacing the expensive jewels traditionally used in a watch's movement.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /> These innovations led to the debut of the Timex brand in 1950, though the name was first used on a small trial shipment of nurses' watches in 1945.<ref>
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 116 | chapter= Chapter 4: Founding Timex, 1941–1958}}</ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 116
|chapter= Chapter 4: Founding Timex, 1941–1958}}</ref>


US Time Corporation bought Lacher & Co. AG in Pforzheim, Germany (the Laco brand) on February 1, 1959 in order to acquire the electric watch technology which that company had developed. They also purchased the [[DUROWE]] (Deutsche Uhrenrohwerke) brand. Timex sold Durowe to the Swiss movement manufacturer [[ETA SA]] on September 1, 1965.{{cn|date=October 2019}}
US Time Corporation bought [[Laco Uhrenmanufaktur|Lacher & Co. AG]] in [[Pforzheim]], Germany (the [[Laco Uhrenmanufaktur|Laco brand]]), on February 1, 1959, in order to acquire the electric watch technology which that company had developed. They also purchased the [[DUROWE]] (Deutsche Uhrenrohwerke) brand. Timex sold Durowe to the Swiss movement manufacturer [[ETA SA]] on September 1, 1965.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}


====Slogan: World's largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses====
==== Slogan: World's largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses ====
[[File:RIM-2 launch from USS Josephus Daniels (DLG-27) in 1970.jpg|thumb|Navy ''[[RIM-2 Terrier|Terrier]]'' missile is controlled in flight through the stabilization system, provided by the U.S. Time–manufactured gyro]]


[[File:RIM-2 launch from USS Josephus Daniels (DLG-27) in 1970.jpg|thumb|320px|Navy ''[[RIM-2 Terrier|Terrier]]'' missile is controlled in flight through the stabilization system, provided by the U. S. Time-manufactured gyro]]
The company manufactured mechanical components for missiles during the boom of American missile development in the late 1950s, including fuses, gyroscope, [[accelerometer]]s, guidance sub-system, and various other miniature precision items.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/missilesrockets2195unse#page/n1041/mode/2up In Control—with U.S. Time Gyros]. // ''Missiles and Rockets'', July 1957, v. 2, no. 7, p. 119.</ref> The company promoted its products under the claim of being the "''world's largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses''."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/missilesrockets2195unse#page/n283/mode/2up U.S. Time Gyros in Control]. // ''Missiles and Rockets'', March 1957, v. 2, no. 3, p. 23.</ref>
The company manufactured mechanical components for missiles during the boom of American missile development in the late 1950s, including fuses, gyroscope, [[accelerometer]]s, guidance sub-system, and various other miniature precision items.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/missilesrockets2195unse#page/n1041/mode/2up In Control—with U.S. Time Gyros]. // ''Missiles and Rockets'', July 1957, v. 2, no. 7, p. 119.</ref> The company promoted its products under the claim of being the "''world's largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses''."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/missilesrockets2195unse#page/n283/mode/2up U.S. Time Gyros in Control]. // ''Missiles and Rockets'', March 1957, v. 2, no. 3, p. 23.</ref>


The company also produced ammunition components, and repaired, installed, and reactivated government-owned production equipment. The height of the company's ordnance and ammunition business lasted through the Vietnam era in the 1960s and 1970s, during which it operated [[Joliet Army Ammunition Plant]]<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2790783;view=1up;seq=148 Defense procurement]. // ''Defense Industry Bulletin'', April 1966, v. 2, no. 4, p. 26.</ref> as well as privately owned plants and storage facilities.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2790783;view=1up;seq=212 Defense procurement]. // ''Defense Industry Bulletin'', June 1966, v. 2, no. 6, p. 26.</ref>
The company also produced ammunition components, and repaired, installed, and reactivated government-owned production equipment. The height of the company's ordnance and ammunition business lasted through the Vietnam era in the 1960s and 1970s, during which it operated [[Joliet Army Ammunition Plant]]<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2790783;view=1up;seq=148 Defense procurement]. // ''Defense Industry Bulletin'', April 1966, v. 2, no. 4, p. 26.</ref> as well as privately owned plants and storage facilities.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2790783;view=1up;seq=212 Defense procurement]. // ''Defense Industry Bulletin'', June 1966, v. 2, no. 6, p. 26.</ref>


====Slogan: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking====
==== Slogan: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ====

[[John Cameron Swayze]] was widely viewed as the most credible newsman in the United States, so Lehmkuhl decided to hire him as a company spokesman for live "torture tests" on television using [[Russ Alben]]'s slogan<ref name=adage>{{cite news |first=Mallory |last=Russell |title=Former Ogilvy Creative Director Russ Alben Dies |url=http://adage.com/article/people-players/ogilvy-creative-director-russ-alben-dies/236893/ |work=[[Advertising Age]] |date=28 August 2012 |accessdate=2 October 2012}}</ref> "Timex – Takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking".<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://adage.com/century/campaigns.html |title=The Advertising Century – Top 100 Advertising Campaigns (#40) |author= |year=2005 |publisher=Advertising Age |accessdate=29 January 2010 }}</ref> Hirshon Garfield developed these commercials as elaborations on tests suggested by United States Time Corporation salesmen. The commercials included high-divers, water skiers, a dolphin, dishwashers, jackhammers, paint mixers, and the propeller of an outboard motor, each torturing a Timex watch.<ref name="TimeWatchesImpulse">
[[John Cameron Swayze]] was widely viewed as the most credible newsman in the United States, so Lehmkuhl decided to hire him as a company spokesman for live "torture tests" on television using [[Russ Alben]]'s slogan<ref name=adage>{{cite news |first=Mallory |last=Russell |title=Former Ogilvy Creative Director Russ Alben Dies |url=http://adage.com/article/people-players/ogilvy-creative-director-russ-alben-dies/236893/ |work=[[Advertising Age]] |date=28 August 2012 |access-date=2 October 2012}}</ref> "Timex – Takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking".<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://adage.com/century/campaigns.html |title=The Advertising Century – Top 100 Advertising Campaigns (#40) |year=2005 |publisher=Advertising Age |access-date=29 January 2010 }}</ref> Hirshon Garfield developed these commercials as elaborations on tests suggested by United States Time Corporation salesmen. The commercials included high-divers, water skiers, a dolphin, dishwashers, jackhammers, paint mixers, and the propeller of an outboard motor, each torturing a Timex watch.<ref name="TimeWatchesImpulse">
{{Cite news
{{Cite news | date = 15 March 1963 | title = Corporations: Watches for an Impulse | periodical = Time Magazine | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870225,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070430103345/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870225,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 30 April 2007 | access-date = 20 April 2010
| date = 15 March 1963
| title = Corporations: Watches for an Impulse
| periodical = Time Magazine
| url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870225,00.html
| accessdate = 20 April 2010
}}</ref>
}}</ref>


Consumer demand increased for the watches, despite resistance from jewelers because of the low 50% markup, and Timex opened new distribution channels including department stores, cigar stands, drug stores, and other mass market outlets.<ref name="TimeWatchesImpulse" /> By 1962, the Timex brand held the number one market share position in the United States, where one out of every three watches sold was a Timex.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /><ref name="TimeWatchesImpulse" /> Foreign markets were added with company sales offices in Canada, Mexico, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Portugal, as well as distributors in about 20 other countries. Plants were built in the United States, Europe, and Asia.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity162">
Consumer demand increased for the watches, despite resistance from jewelers because of the low 50% markup, and Timex opened new distribution channels including department stores, cigar stands, drug stores, and other mass-market outlets.<ref name="TimeWatchesImpulse" /> By 1962, the Timex brand held the number one market share position in the United States, where one out of every three watches sold was a Timex.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /><ref name="TimeWatchesImpulse" /> Foreign markets were added with company sales offices in Canada, Mexico, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Portugal, as well as distributors in about 20 other countries. Plants were built in the United States, Europe, and Asia.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity162">
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 162 | chapter= Chapter 5: Watch Industry Superstar, 1958–1973}}</ref>
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 162
|chapter= Chapter 5: Watch Industry Superstar, 1958–1973}}</ref>


[[Edwin H. Land]], co-founder of [[Polaroid Corporation]], contacted United States Time Corporation in 1948 in search of a manufacturer for his cameras. A strong relationship was forged between the companies in 1950 resulting in United States Time becoming the exclusive manufacturer of all Polaroid cameras worldwide through the 1970s, totaling more than 44 million cameras.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity162" /> United States Time Corporation was renamed Timex Corporation on July 1, 1969.<ref>
[[Edwin H. Land]], co-founder of [[Polaroid Corporation]], contacted United States Time Corporation in 1948 in search of a manufacturer for his cameras. A strong relationship was forged between the companies in 1950 resulting in United States Time becoming the exclusive manufacturer of all Polaroid cameras worldwide through the 1970s, totaling more than 44 million cameras.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity162" /> United States Time Corporation was renamed Timex Corporation on July 1, 1969.<ref>
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 174 | chapter= Chapter 5: Watch Industry Superstar, 1958–1973}}</ref>
{{Cite book

|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
=== Timex Corporation (1969–2008) ===
|last=McDermott
{{further|Quartz crisis}}
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 174
|chapter= Chapter 5: Watch Industry Superstar, 1958–1973}}</ref>


In the 1970s and early 1980s, the American watch and clock industry was devastated by the arrival of cheap mechanical watches from the Far East, as well as the development of digital [[quartz watch]]es pioneered by Japanese companies. Lehmkuhl retired in 1973 with no clear successor, and Polaroid ended its contract with Timex in 1975, resulting in a layoff of 2,000 employees.<ref name="JCK20050101" /> New technology was developing rapidly in the form of electronic digital watches and quartz analog watches, making Timex's mechanical watchmaking production facilities obsolete. Timex closed and consolidated worldwide operations, cutting the 30,000 employee workforce to 6,000.<ref name="JCK20050101" /> New competitors were aggressively entering the business, including Japanese companies, low-cost Hong Kong producers, and large American companies such as Gillette, Texas Instruments, and National Semi-Conductor.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /> The Disney license had expired and John Cameron Swayze retired from his role as spokesman. The sub-contracting business was rebuilt with new customers such as IBM, Hugin-Sweda, and General Electric. The company entered the home computer business in a joint venture with [[Sinclair Research]] Ltd. named [[Timex Sinclair]], selling computers as the [[Timex Sinclair 1000]] and succeeding machines, modeled on the [[ZX81]] and [[ZX Spectrum]]. They faced declining sales amid a price war with [[Commodore Business Machines]] in 1984 and decided not to compete in that market any longer.<ref>
===Timex Corporation (1969–2008)===
{{Cite journal | last = Sanger | first = David | title = Computers Dropped by Timex | journal = The New York Times | date = 22 February 1984 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/22/business/computers-dropped-by-timex.html?scp=4&sq=Timex&st=cse | access-date = 20 April 2010}}</ref>
{{see|Quartz crisis}}
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the American watch and clock industry was devastated by the arrival of cheap mechanical watches from the Far East, as well as the development of digital [[quartz watch]]es pioneered by Japanese companies. Lehmkuhl retired in 1973 with no clear successor, and Polaroid ended its contract with Timex in 1975 resulting in a layoff of 2,000 employees.<ref name="JCK20050101" /> New technology was developing rapidly in the form of electronic digital watches and quartz analog watches, making Timex's mechanical watchmaking production facilities obsolete. Timex closed and consolidated worldwide operations, cutting the 30,000 employee workforce to 6,000.<ref name="JCK20050101" /> New competitors were aggressively entering the business, including Japanese companies, low-cost Hong Kong producers, and large American companies such as Gillette, Texas Instruments, and National Semi-Conductor.<ref name="ManufacturingTime" /> The Disney license had expired and John Cameron Swayze retired from his role as spokesman. The sub-contracting business was rebuilt with new customers such as IBM, Hugin-Sweda, and General Electric. The company entered the home computer business in a joint venture with [[Sinclair Research]] Ltd., selling computers as the [[Timex Sinclair 1000]] and succeeding machines, modeled on the [[ZX81]] and [[ZX Spectrum]]. They faced declining sales amid a price war with [[Commodore Business Machines]] in 1984 and decided not to compete in that market any longer.<ref>
{{Cite journal
| last = Sanger
| first = David
| title = Computers Dropped by Timex
| journal = The New York Times
| date = 22 February 1984
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/22/business/computers-dropped-by-timex.html?scp=4&sq=Timex&st=cse
| accessdate = 20 April 2010}}</ref>


In the mid-1980s, Timex abandoned its development of various consumer products and refocused efforts specifically on timepieces.<ref name="TimexCompany Community210-211">
In the mid-1980s, Timex abandoned its development of various consumer products and refocused efforts specifically on timepieces.<ref name="TimexCompany Community210-211">
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | pages= 210–211 | chapter= Epilogue: 1984–1998}}</ref> Product quality and fashionable design became essential to success in the mass market. Timex had a solid reputation for durable products, and the company put increased efforts behind quality improvement. Longer battery life, more durable gold plating, greater accuracy, and more water-resistant styles were some of the many improvements that they implemented. They created new quartz analog movements using fewer components, reducing overall production time and costs.<ref name="JCK20050101" /> Top athletes assisted in the design of sports watches for specific sports, which led to the introduction of the [[Timex Ironman|Ironman Triathlon]] in 1986 which was named for the Hawaiian triathlon that the company had sponsored since 1984, and it became the most successful Timex watch in the post-mechanical watch era. Within its first year, Timex Ironman became the best-selling watch in the United States, and the world's largest selling sport watch for the next decade.<ref name="TimexCompany Community210-211" />
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|pages= 210–211
|chapter= Epilogue: 1984–1998}}</ref> Product quality and fashionable design became essential to success in the mass market. Timex had a solid reputation for durable products, and the company put increased efforts behind quality improvement. Longer battery life, more durable gold plating, greater accuracy, and more water resistant styles were some of the many improvements that they implemented. They created new quartz analog movements using fewer components, reducing overall production time and costs.<ref name="JCK20050101" /> Top athletes assisted in the design of sports watches for specific sports, which led to the introduction of the [[Timex Ironman|Ironman Triathlon]] in 1986 which was named for the Hawaiian triathlon that the company had sponsored since 1984, and it became the most successful Timex watch in the post-mechanical watch era. Within its first year, Timex Ironman became the best-selling watch in the United States, and the world's largest selling sport watch for the next decade.<ref name="TimexCompany Community210-211" />


Timex introduced the Indiglo night light during the Christmas shopping season in 1992. Indiglo made headlines as a result of the February 26, [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]], in which an office worker wearing a Timex with an Indiglo night light used its light to guide a group of evacuees down 40 dark flights of stairs. This caused sales to immediately take off and led to an increase in Timex's American market share.<ref name="TimexCompany Community210-211" />
Timex introduced the Indiglo night light during the Christmas shopping season in 1992. Indiglo made headlines as a result of the February 26, [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]], in which an office worker wearing a Timex with an Indiglo night light used its light to guide a group of evacuees down 40 dark flights of stairs. This caused sales to immediately take off and led to an increase in Timex's American market share.<ref name="TimexCompany Community210-211" />


Timex Corporation acquired Callanen International in 1991, the producer of [[Guess (clothing)|Guess]] Watches, as part of its "multi-brand strategy".<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity215">
Timex Corporation acquired Callanen International in 1991, the producer of [[Guess (clothing)|Guess]] Watches, as part of its "multi-brand strategy".<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity215">
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 215 | chapter= Epilogue: 1984–1998}}</ref> Timex and [[Disney]] reunited in 1993 to produce a new line of character watches called ''Disney Classics Collection''.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity220">
{{Cite book
{{Cite book | title=Timex: A Company and Its Community | last=McDermott | first=Kathleen | year=1998 | isbn=0-9675087-0-3 | page= 220 | chapter= Epilogue: 1984–1998}}</ref> Also in 1993, the Timex Factory at [[Dundee]] in the UK, was the site of a major [[1993 Dundee Timex Strike|industrial strike]].<ref name="BBC">{{Cite web |title=BBC Scotland - The Rise and Fall of Timex Dundee |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009dnw |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1994, Timex acquired the Nautica Watches license and introduced [[Timex Datalink|Timex Data Link]]. The Data Link PDA-type watch could receive contact and scheduling information from a sequence in a computer monitor's light using software developed with [[Microsoft]].<ref>
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
{{Cite journal | title = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Timex and Microsoft Team Up on a Watch | journal = The New York Times | date = 22 June 1994 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/22/business/business-technology-timex-and-microsoft-team-up-on-a-watch.html?scp=11&sq=Timex&st=cse | access-date = 20 April 2010}}</ref> They introduced the Timex Expedition brand in 1997, designed for rugged outdoor sports. Timex and [[Motorola]] introduced Beepwear in 1998, a watch with an integrated pager.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity215" />
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 215
|chapter= Epilogue: 1984–1998}}</ref> Timex and [[Disney]] reunited in 1993 to produce a new line of character watches called ''Disney Classics Collection''.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity220">
{{Cite book
|title=Timex: A Company and Its Community
|last=McDermott
|first=Kathleen
|year=1998
|isbn=0-9675087-0-3
|page= 220
|chapter= Epilogue: 1984–1998}}</ref> In 1994, Timex acquired the Nautica Watches license and introduced [[Timex Datalink|Timex Data Link]]. The Data Link PDA-type watch could receive contact and scheduling information from a sequence in a computer monitor's light using software developed with [[Microsoft]].<ref>
{{Cite journal
| title = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Timex and Microsoft Team Up on a Watch
| journal = The New York Times
| date = 22 June 1994
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/22/business/business-technology-timex-and-microsoft-team-up-on-a-watch.html?scp=11&sq=Timex&st=cse
| accessdate = 20 April 2010}}</ref> They introduced the Timex Expedition brand in 1997, designed for rugged outdoor sports. Timex and [[Motorola]] introduced Beepwear in 1998, a watch with an integrated pager.<ref name="TimexCompanyCommunity215" />


The new millennium led to further growth of Timex Corporation and its parent Timex Group B.V., by way of brand acquisition, brand introduction, and licensing partnerships. In 2000, Timex Corporation purchased the French fashion watch brand Opex.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/286836-Timex_Buys_France_s_Opex.php |title=Timex Buys France's Opex |author=William George Shuster |date=1 October 2000 |publisher=JCKonline |accessdate=29 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721103623/http://www.jckonline.com/article/286836-Timex_Buys_France_s_Opex.php |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Under its Callanen subsidiary, Timex acquired the watch license for urban fashion designer [[Marc Eckō]] in 2002.<ref name="MediaPost20090601" /> The company entered the luxury market in 2005 when Timex's parent company acquired Swiss-based Vertime SA. Vertime is responsible for the design, manufacturing, and distribution of Swiss-made watches and jewelry for the [[Versace]] and [[Versus (Versace)|Versus]] brands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europastar.com/europastar/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000979087 |title=BASELWORLD & SIHH: Part 2 |author=D. Malcolm Lakin |date=14 July 2005 |publisher=Europa Star |accessdate=20 April 2010 }}</ref> Timex USA's international holding company the [[Timex Group]] launched the [[TX Watch Company]] in late 2006.<ref name="TX">{{cite web
The new millennium led to further growth of Timex Corporation and its parent Timex Group B.V., by way of brand acquisition, brand introduction, and licensing partnerships. In 2000, Timex Corporation purchased the French fashion watch brand Opex.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/286836-Timex_Buys_France_s_Opex.php |title=Timex Buys France's Opex |author=William George Shuster |date=1 October 2000 |publisher=JCKonline |access-date=29 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721103623/http://www.jckonline.com/article/286836-Timex_Buys_France_s_Opex.php |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Under its Callanen subsidiary, Timex acquired the watch license for urban fashion designer [[Marc Eckō]] in 2002.<ref name="MediaPost20090601" /> The company entered the luxury market in 2005 when Timex's parent company acquired Swiss-based Vertime SA. Vertime is responsible for the design, manufacturing, and distribution of Swiss-made watches and jewelry for the [[Versace]] and [[Versus (Versace)|Versus]] brands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europastar.com/europastar/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000979087 |title=BASELWORLD & SIHH: Part 2 |author=D. Malcolm Lakin |date=14 July 2005 |publisher=Europa Star |access-date=20 April 2010 }}</ref> Timex USA's international holding company the [[Timex Group]] launched the [[TX Watch Company]] in late 2006.<ref name="TX">{{cite web | url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/289466-Moves_Timex_Upscale.php | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907060553/http://www.jckonline.com/article/289466-Moves_Timex_Upscale.php | url-status=dead | archive-date=7 September 2012 | title=Moves Timex Upscale | author=William George Shuster | date=1 May 2007 | publisher=JCKonline | access-date=6 May 2010
}}</ref> In 2007, Timex Group B.V. established Sequel AG as a separate company devoted to the design, manufacture, and distribution of the Guess and the Swiss-made Gc watch brands.<ref name="WatchTime200710" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/292256-Timex_Group_Launches_Sequel.php |title=Timex Group Launches Sequel |author=William George Shuster |date=1 April 2007 |publisher=JCKonline |access-date=29 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307202928/http://www.jckonline.com/article/292256-Timex_Group_Launches_Sequel.php |archive-date=7 March 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Timex Group B.V. purchased the Italian design studio Giorgio Galli Design Lab in 2007.<ref name="WatchTime200710" />
|url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/289466-Moves_Timex_Upscale.php
|archive-url=https://archive.is/20120907060553/http://www.jckonline.com/article/289466-Moves_Timex_Upscale.php
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=7 September 2012
|title=Moves Timex Upscale
|author=William George Shuster
|date=1 May 2007
|publisher=JCKonline
|accessdate=6 May 2010
}}</ref> In 2007, Timex Group B.V. established Sequel AG as a separate company devoted to the design, manufacture, and distribution of the Guess and the Swiss-made Gc watch brands.<ref name="WatchTime200710" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/292256-Timex_Group_Launches_Sequel.php |title=Timex Group Launches Sequel |author=William George Shuster |date=1 April 2007 |publisher=JCKonline |accessdate=29 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307202928/http://www.jckonline.com/article/292256-Timex_Group_Launches_Sequel.php |archive-date=7 March 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Timex Group B.V. purchased the Italian design studio Giorgio Galli Design Lab in 2007.<ref name="WatchTime200710" />


===Timex Group USA, Inc. (2008–present)===
===Timex Group USA, Inc. (2008–present)===
Line 300: Line 101:
The company was restructured in early 2008, establishing the Timex Business Unit as a separate business function for the Timex brand with its own president. Previous Timex Group CEOs had managed the Timex Group and brand, which had contributed to the brand's lower earnings in the previous five years. Timex Group's Sequel division houses the Guess collections and had grown tremendously to rival Timex as the firm's top earner, but the signature brand had been flat as of August 2008.<ref name="WWD20080804">{{cite journal |last=Tell |first=Caroline |year=2008 |title=Timex Aims for $1B Mark |journal=WWD |issue=8 April 2008 |url=http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/timex-aims-for-1b-mark-1701550}}</ref> Since this change, Timex has introduced [[GPS watch|GPS]] enabled watches, heart rate monitor exercise watches, and similar devices.
The company was restructured in early 2008, establishing the Timex Business Unit as a separate business function for the Timex brand with its own president. Previous Timex Group CEOs had managed the Timex Group and brand, which had contributed to the brand's lower earnings in the previous five years. Timex Group's Sequel division houses the Guess collections and had grown tremendously to rival Timex as the firm's top earner, but the signature brand had been flat as of August 2008.<ref name="WWD20080804">{{cite journal |last=Tell |first=Caroline |year=2008 |title=Timex Aims for $1B Mark |journal=WWD |issue=8 April 2008 |url=http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/timex-aims-for-1b-mark-1701550}}</ref> Since this change, Timex has introduced [[GPS watch|GPS]] enabled watches, heart rate monitor exercise watches, and similar devices.


In 2008, Timex Group USA signed a four-year agreement making Timex the first official timekeeper of the [[New York City Marathon]].{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} Meanwhile, parent company Timex Group B.V. launched Swiss-made luxury watch brands Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces and Valentino Timeless under the Timex Group Luxury Watches business.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vialuxe.com/news/luxury-watches-valentino-timeless-watch-line-to-debut-in-august-2008/1,29118 |title=VALENTINO TIMELESS WATCH LINE TO DEBUT IN AUGUST 2008 |date=5 August 2008 |publisher=ViaLuxe |access-date=6 May 2010 }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.luxuo.com/watches/salvatore-ferragamo-timepieces-collection-2009.html |title=Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces Collection 2009 |date=31 January 2009 |publisher=Luxuo |access-date=6 May 2010 }}</ref> That same year, they began construction on the second-largest ground-mounted solar array in the United States at Timex Group USA's headquarters in Middlebury, Connecticut. They inaugurated the 800-panel solar array on February 5, 2009, during a press event held at the headquarters.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Krechevsky | first = David | date = 6 February 2009 | periodical = RepublicanAmerican | publisher = American-Republican Inc. | volume = Litchfield County | pages= 1, 7C | url = http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/02/06/business/396111.txt | access-date = 1 February 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928085403/http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/02/06/business/396111.txt | archive-date=28 September 2011 | title=Timex Group goes greener, adds solar array }}</ref> A few months later, Timex Group USA purchased the [[Marc Eckō]] watch trademark which it had licensed since 2002.<ref name="MediaPost20090601">{{cite web |url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107117 |title=Timex Group Buys Ecko Trademark |date=1 June 2009 |publisher=MediaPost News |access-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811033732/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107117 |archive-date=11 August 2010 }}</ref> The Callanen International business unit merged with the Timex Business Unit in 2009, bringing the Timex, Opex, TX, Nautica, and Marc Eckō brands under one company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehour.com/story/466808 |title=Norwalk watch company announces consolidation |date=20 March 2009 |publisher=The Hour |access-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717010000/http://www.thehour.com/story/466808 |archive-date=17 July 2011 }}</ref>
In 2008, Timex Group USA signed a four-year agreement making Timex the first official timekeeper of the [[New York City Marathon]].<ref>{{Cite news
|last = Janoff
|first = Barry
|date = 13 October 2008
|periodical = Brandweek
|publisher = e5 Global Media
|volume = XLIX
|issue = 36
|url = http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/esearch/e3ie470eaeef1dd69b146bf3528c7e33f02
|issn = 1064-4318
|accessdate = 1 February 2010
}}</ref> Meanwhile, parent company Timex Group B.V. launched Swiss-made luxury watch brands Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces and Valentino Timeless under the Timex Group Luxury Watches business.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vialuxe.com/news/luxury-watches-valentino-timeless-watch-line-to-debut-in-august-2008/1,29118 |title=VALENTINO TIMELESS WATCH LINE TO DEBUT IN AUGUST 2008 |date=5 August 2008 |publisher=ViaLuxe |accessdate=6 May 2010 }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.luxuo.com/watches/salvatore-ferragamo-timepieces-collection-2009.html |title=Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces Collection 2009 |date=31 January 2009 |publisher=Luxuo |accessdate=6 May 2010 }}</ref> That same year, they began construction on the second-largest ground-mounted solar array in the United States at Timex Group USA's headquarters in Middlebury, Connecticut. They inaugurated the 800-panel solar array on February 5, 2009 during a press event held at the headquarters.<ref>{{Cite news
|last = Krechevsky
|first = David
|date = 6 February 2009
|periodical = RepublicanAmerican
|publisher = American-Republican Inc.
|volume = Litchfield County
|pages= 1, 7C
|url = http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/02/06/business/396111.txt
|accessdate = 1 February 2010
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928085403/http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/02/06/business/396111.txt
|archivedate=28 September 2011
|title=Timex Group goes greener, adds solar array
}}</ref> A few months later, Timex Group USA purchased the [[Marc Eckō]] watch trademark which it had licensed since 2002.<ref name="MediaPost20090601">{{cite web |url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107117 |title=Timex Group Buys Ecko Trademark |date=1 June 2009 |publisher=MediaPost News |accessdate=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811033732/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107117 |archivedate=11 August 2010 }}</ref> The Callanen International business unit merged with the Timex Business Unit in 2009, bringing the Timex, Opex, TX, Nautica, and Marc Eckō brands under one company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehour.com/story/466808 |title=Norwalk watch company announces consolidation |date=20 March 2009 |publisher=The Hour |accessdate=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717010000/http://www.thehour.com/story/466808 |archivedate=17 July 2011 }}</ref>


==Timex Group B.V.==
== Timex Group B.V. ==


Timex Group B.V., a Dutch holding company, is the corporate parent of several watchmaking companies around the globe including Timex Group USA, Inc.<ref name="JCK20050101">{{cite web |url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/284700-_and_keeps_on_ticking_.php |title=...and keeps on ticking |author=Staff – JCK Online |date=1 January 2005 |publisher=JCKonline |accessdate=6 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100521143521/http://www.jckonline.com/article/284700-_and_keeps_on_ticking_.php |archivedate=21 May 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Businesses and exclusive worldwide licenses include the Timex Business Unit (Timex, [[Timex Ironman]], Opex, [[Nautica (clothing company)|Nautica]], [[Marc Eckō]]), Sequel ([[Guess (clothing)|Guess]], Gc), Timex Group Luxury Division ([[Versace#Versace precious items|Versace]], [[Versace#Versace lines|Versus]], [[Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A.|Salvatore Ferragamo]], Vincent Bérard, CT Scuderia and Teslar) and Giorgio Galli Design Lab.<ref name="WatchTime200710" /><ref name="WWD20080804" />
Timex Group B.V., a Dutch holding company, is the corporate parent of several watchmaking companies around the globe including Timex Group USA, Inc.<ref name="JCK20050101">{{cite web |url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/284700-_and_keeps_on_ticking_.php |title=...and keeps on ticking |author=Staff – JCK Online |date=1 January 2005 |publisher=JCKonline |access-date=6 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100521143521/http://www.jckonline.com/article/284700-_and_keeps_on_ticking_.php |archive-date=21 May 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Businesses and exclusive worldwide licenses include the Timex Business Unit (Timex, [[Timex Ironman]], Opex, [[Nautica (clothing company)|Nautica]], [[Marc Eckō]]), Sequel ([[Guess (clothing)|Guess]], Gc), Timex Group Luxury Division ([[Versace#Versace precious items|Versace]], [[Versace#Versace lines|Versus]], [[Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A.|Salvatore Ferragamo]], Vincent Bérard, CT Scuderia and Teslar) and Giorgio Galli Design Lab.<ref name="WatchTime200710" /><ref name="WWD20080804" />


Today, Timex Group B.V.'s products are manufactured in the Far East, and in Switzerland, often based on technology that continues to be developed in the United States and in Germany. The group has operations in a number of countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Many Timex Far East operation wristwatches are manufactured by TMX Philippines Inc. in [[Lapu-Lapu, Philippines]]. Timex Group B.V.'s export from the factory in Philippines is made through their own company. Tmx Limited N.V., based on Curaçao.
Today, Timex Group B.V.'s products are manufactured in the Far East, and in Switzerland, often based on technology that continues to be developed in the United States and in Germany. The group has operations in a number of countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Many Timex Far East operation wristwatches are manufactured by TMX Philippines Inc. in [[Lapu-Lapu, Philippines]]. Timex Group B.V.'s export from the factory in the Philippines is made through their own company. Tmx Limited N.V., based in Curaçao.


== See also ==
== See also ==

{{Commons category|Timex}}
* [[American clock]]
* [[Timexpo Museum|Timexpo: The Timex Museum]]
* [[Indiglo]]
* [[Indiglo]]
* [[Ingersoll Watch Company]]
* [[Timex Datalink]]
* [[Timex Datalink]]
* [[Timex Ironman]]
* [[Timex Ironman]]
* [[Georges Frederic Roskopf]]
* [[Timexpo Museum]]
* [[Ingersoll Watch Company]]
* [[American clock]]
* [[Conrad Anker|Conrad Anker, Brand Embassador for Timex Expedition]]


== References ==
== References ==

{{Reflist|2}}
{{reflist}}


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120319002815/http://www.ftc.gov/opp/madeusa2/c612.htm "FTC: Made In The USA Comments Concerning TIMEX Corporation--P894219"], [[Federal Trade Commission]], 8 August 1997
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120319002815/http://www.ftc.gov/opp/madeusa2/c612.htm "FTC: Made In The USA Comments Concerning TIMEX Corporation--P894219"], [[Federal Trade Commission]], 8 August 1997


==External links==
== External links ==
{{commons category|Timex}}
* [http://www.timexgroup.com/ Timex Group Corporate website]
* [http://www.timex.com/ Timex Brand website]
* {{official website}}
* [http://www.timexgroup.com/ Timex Group corporate website]
* [https://www.rootsandrecall.com/york-county-sc/buildings/waterbury-clocks/ Waterbury Clocks - Clock Factory at Bullocks Creek, S.C.]
* [https://www.rootsandrecall.com/york-county-sc/buildings/waterbury-clocks/ Waterbury Clocks - Clock Factory at Bullocks Creek, S.C.]


[[Category:Timex Group|*]]
[[Category:Timex Group|*]]
[[Category:Watch brands]]
[[Category:1854 establishments in Connecticut]]
[[Category:Watchmaking conglomerates]]
[[Category:Watch manufacturing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Middlebury, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Companies based in New Haven County, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Companies based in New Haven County, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1854]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1854]]
[[Category:Middlebury, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Watch brands]]
[[Category:Watch manufacturing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Watchmaking conglomerates]]

Latest revision as of 16:14, 3 August 2024

Timex Group USA, Inc.
FormerlyWaterbury Clock Company, Timex Corporation
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryLuxury goods
Founded1854 (170 years ago) (1854)
HeadquartersMiddlebury, Connecticut, with various operations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Tobias Reiss-Schmidt
    (President & CEO)
  • Colin Arsenault
    (CFO)
ProductsWatches
Number of employees
7,000
ParentTimex Group
Websitewww.timex.com Edit this at Wikidata

Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is an American global watch manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into Timex Corporation. In 2008, the company was acquired by Timex Group B.V. and was renamed Timex Group USA.

Thomas Olsen purchased the Waterbury Clock Company in New York in 1941 and renamed it Timex, a portmanteau of the names of Time magazine and Kleenex.[1]

History

[edit]

Waterbury Clock Company (1854–1944)

[edit]

Brass manufacturer Benedict & Burnham created Waterbury Clock Company in 1854 to manufacture clocks using brass wheels and gears. Waterbury Clock Company was legally incorporated on March 27, 1857, as an independent business with $60,000 in capital.[2][3] The American clock industry was producing millions of clocks with scores of companies located in Connecticut's Naugatuck River Valley, earning the region the nickname "Switzerland of America".[4] The Waterbury Clock Company was one of the largest producers for both domestic sales and export, primarily to Europe.[2]

Ingersoll Watch Company

[edit]
Ingersoll Watch Company

The company originally produced clocks as less expensive alternatives to the high-end European counterparts of the time.[5] In 1887, they introduced the large Jumbo pocket watch, invented by Archibald Bannatyne and named after the famous P. T. Barnum elephant.[6] The Jumbo was put on the market in New York City on a trial basis, catching the attention of Robert H. Ingersoll, a salesman and eventual marketing pioneer.[3] During the turn of the century, Waterbury Clock Company produced millions of pocket watches for the Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. watch company, in which Robert partnered with his brother Charles.[6] In 1896, Ingersoll introduced the Ingersoll Yankee, a dollar pocket watch supplied by Waterbury Clock Company.[3] These watches gained such great popularity that they became known as "the watch that made the dollar famous."[7]

Waterbury Watch Company

[edit]

In 1877, a new prototype was introduced to Benedict and Burnham for an inexpensive pocket watch made of 58 parts, mostly punched sheet brass. They immediately set aside an unused portion of their machine shop and began producing the Long Wind at a rate of 200 per day by 1878. The department quickly outgrew its space in the plant, so Benedict & Burnham incorporated Waterbury Clock's sister company Waterbury Watch Company in 1880 with a capital of $400,000 to manufacture and sell inexpensive watches and other timepieces.[8][9] Waterbury Watch started out very successfully in its early days, employing hundreds of women for their "slender fingers" and "delicate manipulation", and it became the largest-volume producer of watches in the world by 1888.[10]

Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'
A Timex Ironman watch

Waterbury Watch quickly fell into bankruptcy, however, due to poor sales techniques where jobbers and salesmen gave away much of the product as loss leaders with little regard to the company's future, thereby cheapening the products' perceived value.[9] In a last attempt to salvage the company, Waterbury Watch began to produce higher-end watch models which only created more demand on a workforce unable to keep up with the complexity of the new watches using several hundred parts. The company was finally reorganized as the New England Watch Company in 1898, as its London sales office was placed into liquidation.[8] The company continued to focus on high-priced watch models and eventually fell into receivership, discontinuing business in July 1912. Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. bought the Waterbury plant and began manufacturing Ingersoll Watches there in 1914.[8]

Advent of the wristwatch

[edit]

World War I brought new demands for timepiece design; artillery gunners, for example, needed an easy way to calculate and read time while still being able to work the guns. The Waterbury Clock Company met this need by modifying their small Ingersoll ladies' Midget pocket watch. They added lugs for a canvas strap, repositioned the crown to 3 o'clock, and made the hands and numbers luminescent for nighttime readability, thus producing one of the first wristwatches.[11][12]

In 1922, Waterbury Clock Company purchased the Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. company for $1.5 million. The firm had gone bankrupt the previous year due to the post-war recession.[6][13] However, Waterbury Clock was unable to deliver on Ingersoll's guarantee of quality in Europe due to the Great Depression, so they sold the London-based Ingersoll, Ltd. to its board of directors in 1930, making it a wholly British-owned enterprise. The Ingersoll brand name was continued in the United States by Waterbury Clock into the 1950s,[14] while Ingersoll Ltd. produced the Ingersoll watch brand independently for the European and other markets.

Waterbury Clock Company regained its identity in the consumer market after the Great Depression and a period of hardship. They reached a license agreement with Walt Disney in 1930 to produce the famous Mickey Mouse watches and clocks under the Ingersoll brand name. They introduced the Mickey Mouse timepieces to the public at the Chicago World's Fair in June 1933, and they quickly became the company's first million-dollar line, saving it from financial disaster.[14][15]

Thomas Olsen was the owner of Fred. Olsen Shipping Co., and he fled Norway in 1940 together with Joakim Lehmkuhl and their families because of the Nazi invasion.[16] They eventually came to the United States seeking investments to assist in the war effort. Olsen and Lehmkuhl purchased controlling interest in Waterbury Clock Company in 1941, and Olsen became chairman.[6][11][17] Olson appointed Lehmkuhl president, who had studied business and engineering at Harvard and MIT, and the company became the largest producer of fuse timers for precision defense products in the United States under his direction.[17] They built a new concrete plant in nearby Middlebury, Connecticut in 88 days in 1942 for the high-volume production of precision timers.[6] In August 1943, the Under-Secretary of War awarded the Waterbury Clock Company the Army-Navy "E" Award for excellence for their "Anglo-American fuse", and shareholders voted the following December to rename the company United States Time Corporation.[18]

United States Time Corporation (1944–1969 )

[edit]

Sales declined after the Korean War in the 1950s because of diminishing defense orders, and United States Time president Lehmkuhl was convinced that an inexpensive watch would be a market success if it was both accurate and durable. He felt that low cost could be accomplished through the combination of automation, the precision tooling techniques used in making fuse timers, and a simpler design than that of higher-priced Swiss watches. Durability was accomplished through a new hard alloy called Armalloy, developed through wartime research. Armalloy was used to produce longwearing bearings, replacing the expensive jewels traditionally used in a watch's movement.[17] These innovations led to the debut of the Timex brand in 1950, though the name was first used on a small trial shipment of nurses' watches in 1945.[19]

US Time Corporation bought Lacher & Co. AG in Pforzheim, Germany (the Laco brand), on February 1, 1959, in order to acquire the electric watch technology which that company had developed. They also purchased the DUROWE (Deutsche Uhrenrohwerke) brand. Timex sold Durowe to the Swiss movement manufacturer ETA SA on September 1, 1965.[citation needed]

Slogan: World's largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses

[edit]
Navy Terrier missile is controlled in flight through the stabilization system, provided by the U.S. Time–manufactured gyro

The company manufactured mechanical components for missiles during the boom of American missile development in the late 1950s, including fuses, gyroscope, accelerometers, guidance sub-system, and various other miniature precision items.[20] The company promoted its products under the claim of being the "world's largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses."[21]

The company also produced ammunition components, and repaired, installed, and reactivated government-owned production equipment. The height of the company's ordnance and ammunition business lasted through the Vietnam era in the 1960s and 1970s, during which it operated Joliet Army Ammunition Plant[22] as well as privately owned plants and storage facilities.[23]

Slogan: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking

[edit]

John Cameron Swayze was widely viewed as the most credible newsman in the United States, so Lehmkuhl decided to hire him as a company spokesman for live "torture tests" on television using Russ Alben's slogan[24] "Timex – Takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking".[17][25] Hirshon Garfield developed these commercials as elaborations on tests suggested by United States Time Corporation salesmen. The commercials included high-divers, water skiers, a dolphin, dishwashers, jackhammers, paint mixers, and the propeller of an outboard motor, each torturing a Timex watch.[26]

Consumer demand increased for the watches, despite resistance from jewelers because of the low 50% markup, and Timex opened new distribution channels including department stores, cigar stands, drug stores, and other mass-market outlets.[26] By 1962, the Timex brand held the number one market share position in the United States, where one out of every three watches sold was a Timex.[17][26] Foreign markets were added with company sales offices in Canada, Mexico, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Portugal, as well as distributors in about 20 other countries. Plants were built in the United States, Europe, and Asia.[27]

Edwin H. Land, co-founder of Polaroid Corporation, contacted United States Time Corporation in 1948 in search of a manufacturer for his cameras. A strong relationship was forged between the companies in 1950 resulting in United States Time becoming the exclusive manufacturer of all Polaroid cameras worldwide through the 1970s, totaling more than 44 million cameras.[27] United States Time Corporation was renamed Timex Corporation on July 1, 1969.[28]

Timex Corporation (1969–2008)

[edit]

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the American watch and clock industry was devastated by the arrival of cheap mechanical watches from the Far East, as well as the development of digital quartz watches pioneered by Japanese companies. Lehmkuhl retired in 1973 with no clear successor, and Polaroid ended its contract with Timex in 1975, resulting in a layoff of 2,000 employees.[11] New technology was developing rapidly in the form of electronic digital watches and quartz analog watches, making Timex's mechanical watchmaking production facilities obsolete. Timex closed and consolidated worldwide operations, cutting the 30,000 employee workforce to 6,000.[11] New competitors were aggressively entering the business, including Japanese companies, low-cost Hong Kong producers, and large American companies such as Gillette, Texas Instruments, and National Semi-Conductor.[17] The Disney license had expired and John Cameron Swayze retired from his role as spokesman. The sub-contracting business was rebuilt with new customers such as IBM, Hugin-Sweda, and General Electric. The company entered the home computer business in a joint venture with Sinclair Research Ltd. named Timex Sinclair, selling computers as the Timex Sinclair 1000 and succeeding machines, modeled on the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. They faced declining sales amid a price war with Commodore Business Machines in 1984 and decided not to compete in that market any longer.[29]

In the mid-1980s, Timex abandoned its development of various consumer products and refocused efforts specifically on timepieces.[30] Product quality and fashionable design became essential to success in the mass market. Timex had a solid reputation for durable products, and the company put increased efforts behind quality improvement. Longer battery life, more durable gold plating, greater accuracy, and more water-resistant styles were some of the many improvements that they implemented. They created new quartz analog movements using fewer components, reducing overall production time and costs.[11] Top athletes assisted in the design of sports watches for specific sports, which led to the introduction of the Ironman Triathlon in 1986 which was named for the Hawaiian triathlon that the company had sponsored since 1984, and it became the most successful Timex watch in the post-mechanical watch era. Within its first year, Timex Ironman became the best-selling watch in the United States, and the world's largest selling sport watch for the next decade.[30]

Timex introduced the Indiglo night light during the Christmas shopping season in 1992. Indiglo made headlines as a result of the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing, in which an office worker wearing a Timex with an Indiglo night light used its light to guide a group of evacuees down 40 dark flights of stairs. This caused sales to immediately take off and led to an increase in Timex's American market share.[30]

Timex Corporation acquired Callanen International in 1991, the producer of Guess Watches, as part of its "multi-brand strategy".[31] Timex and Disney reunited in 1993 to produce a new line of character watches called Disney Classics Collection.[32] Also in 1993, the Timex Factory at Dundee in the UK, was the site of a major industrial strike.[33] In 1994, Timex acquired the Nautica Watches license and introduced Timex Data Link. The Data Link PDA-type watch could receive contact and scheduling information from a sequence in a computer monitor's light using software developed with Microsoft.[34] They introduced the Timex Expedition brand in 1997, designed for rugged outdoor sports. Timex and Motorola introduced Beepwear in 1998, a watch with an integrated pager.[31]

The new millennium led to further growth of Timex Corporation and its parent Timex Group B.V., by way of brand acquisition, brand introduction, and licensing partnerships. In 2000, Timex Corporation purchased the French fashion watch brand Opex.[35] Under its Callanen subsidiary, Timex acquired the watch license for urban fashion designer Marc Eckō in 2002.[36] The company entered the luxury market in 2005 when Timex's parent company acquired Swiss-based Vertime SA. Vertime is responsible for the design, manufacturing, and distribution of Swiss-made watches and jewelry for the Versace and Versus brands.[37] Timex USA's international holding company the Timex Group launched the TX Watch Company in late 2006.[38] In 2007, Timex Group B.V. established Sequel AG as a separate company devoted to the design, manufacture, and distribution of the Guess and the Swiss-made Gc watch brands.[14][39] Timex Group B.V. purchased the Italian design studio Giorgio Galli Design Lab in 2007.[14]

Timex Group USA, Inc. (2008–present)

[edit]
Timex logo

The company was restructured in early 2008, establishing the Timex Business Unit as a separate business function for the Timex brand with its own president. Previous Timex Group CEOs had managed the Timex Group and brand, which had contributed to the brand's lower earnings in the previous five years. Timex Group's Sequel division houses the Guess collections and had grown tremendously to rival Timex as the firm's top earner, but the signature brand had been flat as of August 2008.[40] Since this change, Timex has introduced GPS enabled watches, heart rate monitor exercise watches, and similar devices.

In 2008, Timex Group USA signed a four-year agreement making Timex the first official timekeeper of the New York City Marathon.[citation needed] Meanwhile, parent company Timex Group B.V. launched Swiss-made luxury watch brands Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces and Valentino Timeless under the Timex Group Luxury Watches business.[41][42] That same year, they began construction on the second-largest ground-mounted solar array in the United States at Timex Group USA's headquarters in Middlebury, Connecticut. They inaugurated the 800-panel solar array on February 5, 2009, during a press event held at the headquarters.[43] A few months later, Timex Group USA purchased the Marc Eckō watch trademark which it had licensed since 2002.[36] The Callanen International business unit merged with the Timex Business Unit in 2009, bringing the Timex, Opex, TX, Nautica, and Marc Eckō brands under one company.[44]

Timex Group B.V.

[edit]

Timex Group B.V., a Dutch holding company, is the corporate parent of several watchmaking companies around the globe including Timex Group USA, Inc.[11] Businesses and exclusive worldwide licenses include the Timex Business Unit (Timex, Timex Ironman, Opex, Nautica, Marc Eckō), Sequel (Guess, Gc), Timex Group Luxury Division (Versace, Versus, Salvatore Ferragamo, Vincent Bérard, CT Scuderia and Teslar) and Giorgio Galli Design Lab.[14][40]

Today, Timex Group B.V.'s products are manufactured in the Far East, and in Switzerland, often based on technology that continues to be developed in the United States and in Germany. The group has operations in a number of countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Many Timex Far East operation wristwatches are manufactured by TMX Philippines Inc. in Lapu-Lapu, Philippines. Timex Group B.V.'s export from the factory in the Philippines is made through their own company. Tmx Limited N.V., based in Curaçao.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Shawn Tully (7 March 2015). "The crazy, true-life adventures of Norway's most radical billionaire". Fortune.
  2. ^ a b Anderson, Joseph; Prichard, Sarah Johnson; Lydia Ward, Anna (1896). "Chapter XXIII The Smaller Brass Companies". The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2. New Haven, CT: The Price and Lee Company. pp. 377–380. LCCN 98000206. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  3. ^ a b c Pape, William Jamieson (1918). "Chapter XVIII Clocks, Watches, Pins, Needles, Hooks and Eyes". History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume 1. Chicago – New York: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. p. 224. LCCN 18021396. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  4. ^ Cliff Calderwood (26 January 2006). "The Switzerland of America". Complete New England. Archived from the original on 8 September 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
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Further reading

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