BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) - The American Clock & Watch Museum’s current exhibit, “Trains, Planes and Automobiles,” offers a look at early clockwork featured in Disney toys and turn-of-the-century watches used in the transportation industry.
The exhibit opened in April and will remain on display throughout the year. A 1902 Sidney advertising clock, a collection of railroad-grade watches and a fretwork clock from 1909 are included in the show.
“Advertising clocks were placed in train stations for people to look at as they waited for the trains to arrive,” said Patti Philippon, director of the American Clock & Watch Museum. “Ours features canisters, each of which has three advertisements that would rotate every five minutes.”
Another display case contains a statue of a rail conductor, a conductor’s hat and rail spikes which held down the tracks. There is also a plaque featuring historical information on how rail-time came to be established in 1883 and another plaque concerning an 1891 train crash in Kipton, Ohio, with accompanying photos. The crash, which claimed nine lives, resulted from a stopped conductor’s watch and led to the establishment of strict standards for watches used by railroads.
“Railroad grade watches had to meet a number of criteria,” said Philippon. “They had to be a certain size, had to have a certain number of jewels and had to tell time if upside down, on their sides. In the early 20th century, due to the popularity of the railroad, people started creating watches that looked like railroad grade watches. They became quite fashionable.”
For the duration of the summer, the exhibit will also feature clockwork Disney toys and trains manufactured by Lionel LLC in the 1930s. These items belonged to the late Louis Gagnon, who died in 2013. Gagnon, an avid, lifelong collector, is the uncle of Cortlandt Hull, owner of the Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum, who loaned the items to the museum for Connecticut Open House Day on June 11.
The Disney toys include a Mickey and Minnie Mouse handcar, a Donald Duck and Pluto handcar and two windup toys of Pluto and Donald made from composition rubber. Hull said this fragile material was used in lieu of rubber due to its scarcity during The Great Depression. Gagnon, however, was able to keep them in excellent condition.
“Uncle Louie collected trains since he was a kid in the late 1920s,” said Hull. “He was a World War II veteran who fought in several major battles and collecting model trains and clockwork toys was his love. In those days, not everyone had electricity, so many of the early toys were wind-up. They later went to electric. In the 1940s, the industry died off as factories went into war time production. They are still very sought-after collectibles to this day.”
Hull said the circus trains were etched by lithograph and the Disney toys featured the characters’ original designs. All have “pie cut” eyes and Donald Duck had a longer bill than his later look. The characters were all redesigned in 1938.
The American Clock & Watch Museum is located at 100 Maple St. in Bristol.
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Information from: New Britain Herald, https://www.newbritainherald.com
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