Chelsea Clock Company - History - The Mid 1900s

The Mid 1900s

Neagle was quick to replace less popular models with new ones, including the Forecaster, Fulton, and Georgian. Shortly after he assumed ownership, however, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression set in. Through drastic inventory and cost reductions Neagle managed to keep Chelsea afloat. When World War II arrived, Chelsea's role as a government supplier helped offset declining consumer sales. Neagle retired in 1945, selling the company to longtime employees George King and Walter Mutz.

In postwar 1946, the United States Air Force created its Strategic Air Command (SAC) and equipped each if its bombers and nuclear missile silos with Chelsea clocks. Meanwhile, Mutz noted a growing demand for electric clocks and, in 1947, introduced Chelsea's Model VE. He also introduced consumer versions of its popular military clocks, the Type "A" (12 hour) and Type "B" (24 hour). Mutz and King eventually discontinued several models, including the Athena, Fulton, and Magellan, while adding others, among them Bookends, Comet, and Corvette. James Leone, Chelsea's director of engineering, also introduced several improvements to the company's Ship's Bell model, including the addition of a stop strike lever. The redesigned movement, called the Model 4L, remains largely the same to this day.