Anson Greene Phelps formed the Ansonia Brass company in Connecticut in 1844 and later in 1850 the Ansonia Clock Company was formed as a subsidiary. Anson Phelps joined two Bristol, Connecticut, clockmakers, Theodore Terry and Franklin C. Andrews who were the largest clock manufacturers in Bristol, with more than 50 employees using 58 tons of brass in the production of about 25,000 clocks in 1849. The partnership benefitted everyone, Phelps decided to get into the clockmaking business to expand the market for his brass, whereas Terry and Andrews was able to buy brass at better prices.

In 1877 the Ansonia clock company purchased a factory in New York, and moved most of its production there after being spun off from the brass company. Henry J. Davies of Brooklyn, himself a clockmaker, inventor and case designer, joined the newly reconstituted company as one of its founders. As President, he is thought to have been largely responsible for the figurine clocks, swing clocks and other unusual and desirable novelties for which the Ansonia firm became known.

By 1879, a second factory was opened in Brooklyn, New York and by June 1880 employed 360 workers, while the Connecticut factory continued producing clocks as well with a workforce of 100 men and 25 women. Hence, clocks marked “Connecticut” were generally produced before 1879, while those marked “New York” were all produced after 1880. The Ansonia company gradually fell into debt and struggled to remain competitive. By 1920 the number of models offered was down to 136 models, and by 1927 only 47 models were offered. Just before the stock market crash and the Great Depression in 1929 the majority of the timekeeping machinery and tooling was sold to the Soviet government’s US trading company Amtorg. All of the parts, machinery and key skilled workers were shipped out of the US to form the new company.

Sunwatch

The Ansonia Clock company made the Sunwatch between 1920 and 1929 but it appears that they sold the rights for production or branding at some point because mine is stamped Outdoor Supply Company out of New York instead of Ansonia. If you have some more specific insight into this I would appreciate you letting me know so I can update this article. You can see from the pictures below along with teh directions that it is a fairly simple piece of kit but well made and suitable for the outdoor enthusiast. I found an advertisement for the Sunwatch in a Februrary 1922 edition of Boy’s Life magazine which is a publication for the Boy Scouts of American. I could not find it being sold in the Boy Scout Equipment Catalogues that I have, 1920, 1925, 1927, and 1930. I found them also advertised in Forest and Stream in the early 1920’s.