Vintage Westinghouse Wall Clock

We've almost all heard of Westinghouse - being one of the largest and most successful industrial giants of the 20th century, this isn't surprising. It is an American manufacturing company started in 1886 by George Westinghouse. Originally called the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, it changed its name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945. Despite the age of this company, it's amazing... I could scarcely find a single interesting set of events or developments that would set this century-old company apart. It was a well-run and hugely profitable organization, right from word 'go.' Originally established in Pittsburgh in 1886, the company sought to expand in the mid-1890s and found a suitable new home in the industrial center of Hamilton, Ontario. Known as Canada's 'steel-town,' Hamilton was ideally situated on the Great Lakes and added significantly to Westinghouse's distribution potential, so it was a natural fit. But I doubt even Westinghouse predicted the level of growth the company would enjoy, north of the border. The first expansion was in 1898, when Westinghouse opened up a small air-brake factory. It was the beginning of a transformative time for Hamilton... Westinghouse was but the first of a multitude of US companies that would descend on this quickly growing industrial center. Originally, approximately 80 workers produced 9000 sets of air brakes per year for Canada's railway industry, but by the turn-of-the-century, Westinghouse just exploded (figuratively speaking). Westinghouse invested in a sprawling industrial complex that was opened in 1905. By 1915, over 3,000 Hamiltonians produced electrical machinery here - motors, generators, transformers, turbines and more. This was a new kind of factory, however. It was larger, more mechanized and carefully designed to smooth the flow of production. Now, with increased procedure and order came more oversight from management. We must remember that this is the era in which Ford perfected the assembly line and in light of an explosive boom of eligible employees, management had to be ruthless when it came to rules and procedures to keep the line running smoothly. Their oversight, it seems, was a little too intrusive and demeaning to many workers. This was the beginning of almost half a century of Union development and Union-busting. In 1903, Westinghouse himself unequivocally stated that he would never allow unions in his factories. Several dozen strikes and walk-outs resulted in almost nothing... at every turn, the unions, despite their strength and support, were losing to this industrial behemoth. To attempt to curb the growing dissatisfaction, in 1918, a Veteran's Association was formed whereby Westinghouse employees that had been with the company for 10 years received one week of vacation and a pension plan financed through payroll deductions. Some would, no doubt, appreciate the gesture, but for others, it was just not enough. Over the next 30 years, skilled workers fought and struggled against Westinghouse, for appropriate recognition and compensation, but only after the close of World War 2 would they finally receive the benefits they so justly deserved.
From that muddled and messy start grew a truly massive corporation, manufacturing almost every commercial good you can think of. To give you an example of their reach, during the 20th century alone, Westinghouse engineers and scientists were granted more than 28,000 U.S. patents!

From the post-war era comes our beautiful little clock. With a faux-compass printed onto the face, our clock is simple, pretty and working beautifully - it's a great example of the simple, long-lasting designs Westinghouse was famous for. It measures just a hair shy of 7 inches in diameter and would fit beautifully into any vintage décor or add some character to any room. Although there are some slight blemishes to the plastic 'dome' over the face, it does very little to detract from the piece's attraction or function.
As always, should you have any questions or comments, I'm always happy to respond to messages almost immediately.
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