Revere, Telechron-GE Clock Relationships : eBay Guides

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Most Telechron Collectors today are quite aware of the beginnings of the company, and the efforts Henry Warren made to bring Electric Clocks to the market.  However, many collectors are unaware that there were 4 major companies involved, and the relationship between all 4 still remains somewhat a mystery.  The 4 companies involved were Telechron, General Electric, Revere and Herschede.  Although many of the pieces fit together quite nicely and spell out logical answers, there are a few questions that still befuddle some collectors.

1.)What was the relationship between General Electric and Telechron?
2.)What was the relationship between Revere and Herschede?
3.)Why did the Revere Company, an obvious competitor, agree to partner with General Electric to make Westminster clocks using the GE label?
4.)Why did Telechron, the maker of all these famous Westminster movements, never in their history produce a Westminster clock of their own?

Who was the Herschede Clock Company?
To understand the relationships between these companies, we pretty much have to start with the Herschede Clock Company.  Herschedes beginnings can be traced back to 1873 when its founder, Frank Herschede, started it.  Herschede competed directly in the Key-Wind Clock segment and was responsible for creating some of the finest quality clocks produced in America.  So famous were their hall (grandfather) clocks, the name of the company was changed to the Herschede Hall Company in 1902.  Herschede was more than just a clock, it was a status, almost like the Cadillac of clocks.  They were well built and very expensive. 

Walter Herschede, president of the company in the early 1920’s, appeared to have been the only one to foresee a new development in the US called electricity.  All other clock companies missed the boat, then struggled to play catch-up in the 1930’s.   It was his insight to explore this development that could possibly make key-wind clocks obsolete.  But, who do you turn to?

How was Telechron and General Electric Related?
So now comes along the Telechron Company.  The owner, Henry Warren, spent over 10-years developing and perfecting a self-starting clock movement that ran on electricity in 1925.  General Electric became a player much earlier than that.  Knowing that they would need reliable electric motors for major appliances and other large applications in the near future, GE gambled on Telechron and purchased 49% of the company in 1917.  This was probably a major factor, which gave Henry Warren the needed money to continue development during those 10 years of 1915-1925.  Thus, this sets the relationship between the Telechron Company and General Electric.

Who was the Revere Clock Company?
Walter Herschede followed the progress of Telechron and eventually saw the future in their electric Westminster movements.  However, he wasn’t totally convinced of either the quality or consumer acceptance of such a device and had reservations about using electric in any Herschede clocks.  So in 1927, Walter Herschede opened a new company in Cincinnati, Ohio known as the REVERE CLOCK COMPANY.  His feelings were this:  If the idea of electric clocks flopped, he could shut the Revere Company down, and it would not mar the image of his famous Herschede Hall Clock Company.  Thus, Revere introduced their first line of electric Westminster Clocks in 1928.  Ironically, there were a few Herschede Clocks made using the new Telechron Movement during those early years, but not without reservations.  Since power outages were quite frequent during the time, the movements were modified.  Not only did the clocks run on the regular Telechron Westminster Movements, they also had an auxiliary spring movement built in to keep the clock running if the power failed.  So these early clocks had both electric and swinging pendulums similar to what you’d see on a key-wind

Were General Electric and Revere in bed together?
The clock shown on the left is the famous 1930 Revere Model 430.  The clock on the right appears to be the same, correct?  Just about except it is not stamped with a model number, and says General Electric on the dial.  This is pretty much definitive proof that Revere was creating clocks for General Electric as early as 1930.  We have seen other examples through the 1930’s where General Electric was selling clocks that were nearly identical to Revere models.  As in our example here (look at the dial), there were only small differences that kept the clocks from being totally identical.  Regardless whether it said General Electric or Revere on the front, the movements in both were identical.  All were made by Telechron.

Why Revere agreed to partner-up with General Electric is somewhat of a mystery.  We know for a fact that GE wanted in the clock business, and Telechron was already producing non-chiming clocks with the General Electric dials.  We don’t think it was a matter of coercion where GE told Revere “Hey, make clocks for us or get your movements elsewhere”.  It may have been a matter of good business on Reveres part where Walter Herschede felt it would increase revenue.  It may have been a matter of supply where Revere might have had many extras to sell.  It may have been a contractual agreement at the start which could explain why Telechron themselves never produced a Westminster Clock.  (Non-competitive clause?).  The only credit Telechron received was on the early clocks, which would state “Telechron Powered” on the dial.  But that privilege was dismissed by the early 1930’s, and the only reference to Telechron could be found if you opened the back door and read the small rotor ID plate on the inside.

Still, all the details concerning this partnership are sketchy, and that makes sense.  It would seem obvious that Revere was happy with the contract, but wanted to keep a clear distinction between them and General Electric.  Despite the fact that the internal workings and designs were nearly identical, it would make sense not to let consumers know this.  Many early advertisements would show both Telechron clocks and Revere clocks.  Other advertisements would show both Telechron and General Electric clocks.  But we have never seen an advertisement showing both General Electric and Revere.

The Companies Separate
It wasn’t until about 1940 that a distinct separation between GE and Revere became apparent.  There is one style note that was obvious between the two companies during the 1930-1940 period.  Although General Electric did make some rather elaborate clocks like the one shown above, most of their styles were on the conservative side.  Revere, too, had their share of conservative styles but for the most part continued to produce more expensive, elaborate, even gaudy models.  Clearly, General Electric wanted to produce affordable clocks where Revere still wanted to cater to individuals with deeper pockets.

After 1940, the separation of styles became even more obvious.  Now GE appeared to be making their own clocks, but their styles pushed more conservative and more affordable.  The 1940 GE Model 404 known as the “Joy” was one of the first real GE clocks to be produced and clearly showed the conservative style they were leaning toward.

This is not to say Revere didn’t have their share of conservative styles.  At $24.50 retail, the 1940 R-913 shown was one of their most famous styles and was produced right into the late 1960’s.  The Joy retailed at the same time for $19.50.  Yet, both clocks ran on the exact same Telechron-made Westminster Movement striking on four nickel chime rods, and you can still see striking similarities between the two clocks.

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