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Eastman Register

The Eastman Clock Company was the beginning of clock manufacture in the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Joseph H. Eastman constructed the Eastman Clock Company factory building in 1894-1896. It was this beginning that was to become the "Chelsea" Clock Company in 1897. Eastman Clock Company is known to have produced limited numbers of marine, regulator, and banjo clocks in a brief period before it was sold at foreclosure in mid 1896. There is documentation that Eastman retained movements marked Eastman Clock Co. after the foreclosure, which he later sold at the Fairhaven Manufacturing /Vermont Clock Company in Fairhaven, Vermont. Several of the clocks listed below may be included in this group. Production records of the Eastman Clock Company have been lost and in an effort to reconstruct this lost history, the “Chelsea” Clock Museum has been recording known Eastman clock serial numbers. The following list of known clocks and movements is now allowing clock historians to get an accurate and fascinating picture of Eastman production. Known marine clock serial numbers range from 8 to 388. Known serial numbers higher than 400 are all of the weight regulator/banjo type. Clockmaker John C. Losch has reported seeing a group of at least 10 regulator movements, when he was a younger man, that were new and never installed in a case. Known movement number 684 is new and appears unused and may be one of this group. All serial number series from 1-999 have known data points with the exception of 100-199 and 700-899. The relatively large number of data points in the 1-99 and 200-299 series makes the absence of clocks in the 100-199 series all the more glaring. Presently known data points indicate 300 marine clocks and possibly as many as 700 weight regulators/banjos were produced. As more clocks surface this picture will be refined. It is interesting to note than two known marine clocks are dated on the dial, 1896 and a recently discovered clock is dated November '95 (1895) on the dial. These three clocks have serial numbers 54, 274, and 10 respectively. The highest known serial number on an Eastman marine clock is 388. This clock is a 10" nickel plated key lock case, signed on the dial, "Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works, Rockaway, New Jersey." The following entry in the History of Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., dated 1914 is further evidence that most, if not all, Eastman production was during 1896. "The Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works, which was established at Rockaway, New Jersey, in the year 1896, and which with the passage of years, has increased the scope of its operations until it is now recognized as one of the most thriving industries of its kind in the entire state." If you have an Eastman clock and would like to add to the history of this record, please forward your serial number with a description of your clock or movement to the Curator of the Chelsea Clock Museum.

Eastman Clock Company, 1894-1896, "Chelsea" Clock Company, 1897-1997+

Surviving Eastman Clocks and Movements

Serial # Dial Size Notes

1-99 Marine type

8 10” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., “W. & A. Fletcher & Co., Hoboken, N. J.”

10 12" “Boston Store, Providence, R.I., November, '95, Aschroft MFG Co."

12 6 ¾” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., “The Wm. Cramp & Sons S. & E. B. Co., Philadelphia”

54 10” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., “1896”

58 7 5/8" "Star Brass Mfg. Co., Boston, Mass", "E. N."

78 6 ¾” American Steam Gauge & Valve, “The Cleveland Shipbuilding Company, Engine No. 82”

84 6 ¾” American Steam Gauge & Valve, “ The Cleveland Shipbuilding Company, Engine No. 79”

100-199 Marine type

No known clocks

200-299 Marine type

244 6 ¾” Star Brass banner “Star Brass Mfg. Co., Boston, Mass.”, “E. N.“

250 8 ½” Star Brass banner “Star Brass Mfg. Co., Boston, Mass.”, “E. N.”

257 6 ¾” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., fancy logo “Ashcroft Mfg. Co., New York & Bridgeport”

266 8.25” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., “William Cramp Sons S. & E.B. Co., Philadelphia”, “USS IOWA”, BB4

270 8 ¼” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., fancy logo “Ashcroft Mfg. Co., New York & Bridgeport”

271 6.75" black oxide dial "Geo. J. Anderson", "1896"

273 4 ½” white enamel dial “Chas. C. Hutchinson, Boston”, front escapement, presently a unique type

274 8 ½” black oxide dial “Arthur E. Cutler”, “1896”

300-399 Marine type

339 4 ½” “Chas. C. Hutchinson, Boston”, property of Chelsea Clock Co.

349 12" "Ashcroft Mfg. Co., New York & Bridgeport", fancy arabic numerals

380 8 ¼” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., fancy logo “Ashcroft Mfg. Co., New York & Bridgeport”

388 10” Ashcroft Mfg. Co., “Liondale Bleach Dye & Print Works, Rockaway, N. J.”, escapement #390

300-399 Regulator/banjo type

320 weight regulator movement

343 weight regulator, penciled inside clock, "1st clock put up in this building Aug 95 at 20 minutes past 9am"

361 weight regulator, oak, painted tablet

366 weight regulator movement

381 weight regulator, oak, clear tablet

400-499 Regulator/banjo type

461 weight regulator movement

468 weight banjo movement

500-599 Regulator/banjo type

520 weight regulator movement

565 weight regulator oak

584 weight regulator movement

600-699 Regulator/banjo type

681 weight regulator

684 weight regulator movement

700-899 Regulator/banjo type

754 weight regulator, oak, Daniel Pratt's Son, Boston, painted tablet.

855 Weight regulator

900-999 Regulator/banjo type

901 weight regulator

Known marine clocks/unknown serial numbers

??? 6" "Eastman Clock Co."

Note: All known marine movements have nickel damascened plates and 7-jewel double roller escapements

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