In doing this research, I found a long case clock dial by Cartwright was sold by Bonhams - as a dial only, with no movement, with quite distinctive engraving around the spandrels. However, compared to other makers of the time, he doesn't seem to have made very many clocks, although most of the ones I have found seem to have fancy cases. He kept the job, and salary, until he died, at which point Benjamin Grey took over.įor a watch by Cartwright made around the same time as the bracket clock, see Īs novice mentioned in his quote from Brian Loomes, it looks like Cartwright had a good export business, and certainly being part of the royal court would have helped his business. For a number of years before this appointment, Cartwright had been signing watches as "the prince's watchmaker" - it seems that he was a favourite of George II, and George must have moved Vick on to give Cartwright the job. The royal watchmaker role came with a salary of 150 pounds. Vick only lasted five years in the job, but he was both royal clockmaker and watchmaker. He held a Royal Warrant, and was appointed watchmaker to King George II on the 6th November 1727, taking over from Richard Vick. Oh, but what a legacy! The Seth Thomas Case Factory in Thomaston, Connecticut 1885 – 300,000 sq.I've been doing some research on Thomas Cartwright, who was more accomplished than I had thought. In January of 2009, the Seth Thomas company closed and is no longer in operation. The company was then taken over by his son, Aaron, who added many styles and improvements after his father’s death. In 1875, the town was renamed Thomaston in Thomas’ memory. Thomas died on January 29, 1859, Plymouth, Connecticut, and is interred at Hillside Cemetery in Thomaston, Connecticut. Soon after, the company was also known for designing and producing some of the country’s most renowned tower clocks, including the tower clock at Grand Central Station in New York. He made the clock that is used in Fireman’s Hall.ĭuring its early years, Seth Thomas quickly gained an impeccable reputation for producing the masterfully crafted grandfather clocks. By the mid-1840s, he changed over to brass from wooden movements. In 1817, he added shelf and mantel clocks. In 1810, he bought Terry’s clock business, making tall clocks with wooden movements, though he chose to sell his partnership in 1812, moving in 1813 to Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut, where he set up a factory to make metal-movement clocks. Thomas formed a clock-making partnership in Plymouth, Connecticut with Eli Terry and Silas Hoadley as Terry, Thomas & Hoadley. He started in the clock business in 1807, working for clockmaker Eli Terry. He was apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner, and worked building houses and barns. Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut in 1785. As the longest established clock maker in the United States (nearly 200 years), Seth Thomas is recognized as one of the most respected brands of clocks in the world. The name Seth Thomas is symbolic of value and excellence of craft, as a result of the variety of sophisticated styles it has produced since 1813. Thomas was the first in the United States to mass-produce clocks, thus becoming a pioneer of mass-production techniques. Seth Thomas (1785-1859), American pioneer clock manufacturer and industrialist.
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