Harmon Estate Clocks, Part 1

My grandfather and father: Jim Harmon and Dennis Harmon,
at the Harmon Clock Shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1962.

I always knew that my father started his career as a horologist by apprenticing in his father's clock shop in Michigan, but I never knew much more than that. My grandfather closed his business in 1963, packing everything away into boxes, trunks, and cases, bringing it all with him as he and my grandmother moved to Louisiana and then to New York. After thirty years of storage in Connecticut, the clock shop is finally being unpacked.

The first batch of clocks pulled off the green truck.

American shelf clocks, in varying condition after long decades of storage.

Jerome & Co. clock with a pristine reverse glass painting.

Interior label for the Jerome & Co. clock.

Chauncey Jerome was a classic Connecticut character. With his brother, Noble Jerome, he developed a new process for making inexpensive brass clock movements. The patent was awarded to Noble in 1839 and essentially involved using dies to stamp parts out of sheet brass, a process that helped the Waterbury brass industry thrive.

Noble Jerome has been overshadowed by his more flamboyant and self-promoting brother. Chauncey Jerome's History of the American Clock Business barely makes mention of Noble's contributions. Chauncey reminds me a lot of P. T. Barnum, who was an investor in the Jeromes' New Haven venture. Chauncey was the salesman; Noble was the clockmaker.

The Jeromes began making clocks in Bristol during the 1820s. Chauncey set up a case-making shop in New Haven in 1844. Movements were manufactured in Bristol and cased in New Haven. By 1845, the Bristol operation had expanded to include several buildings, most of which were destroyed in a catastrophic fire. Chauncey relocated his movement manufacturing operations to New Haven following the fire.

There was a close relationship between the Jeromes and Waterbury. Noble married a Waterbury women, Fanny Peck, in 1823 and lived in Waterbury.

Benedict & Burnham, one of Waterbury's major brass companies, invested in the Jeromes' New Haven enterprise, Jerome Manufacturing Company, in 1850. Five years later, Benedict & Burnham hired Noble Jerome to set up a clock shop for them. After Jerome & Co. was bought out by the New Haven Clock Company in 1856, Chauncey joined his brother in Waterbury, establishing a case-making shop for Benedict & Burnham. The operation was spun off in 1857 and given the name Waterbury Clock Company (more on that in a future blog post--yes, there are Waterbury clocks in this collection).

Ansonia Brass & Copper Co. shelf clock with reverse glass painting.

Interior label of the Ansonia clock.

In 1869, the Ansonia Brass & Battery Company was reorganized as the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company. In the span of a little over a year, the company produced 83,503 clocks. The company was reorganized again in 1877, taking the name Ansonia Clock Company.