| From the dawn of time, man has calculated the | | | | timepieces, bringing them into the average |
| passage of day and night with different devices. | | | | person's home. Another first pertained to |
| The position of the sun and stars kept prehistoric | | | | wristwatches. At the beginning of the 20th |
| man on track. Sun dials, with their large circular | | | | century only ladies wore wristwatches; men wore |
| disks and clock type markings, notified time in | | | | elaborate pocket watches attached to chains. |
| shadow form. Sand streamed through two glass | | | | World War I changed all that. Fighting men in the |
| bulbs forming an hour glass, creating yet another | | | | trenches began wearing wristwatches. A pocket |
| time-keeping device for ancient man. But nothing | | | | watch was impractical when trying to get it out |
| could accurately measure time until the mechanical | | | | while shouldering a gun and standing vigilant against |
| clock was invented in the 1300s. | | | | an enemy. The convenience stuck and after the |
| Bulky clocks, using weights and springs, chimed | | | | war was over men found it acceptable to wear a |
| out each hour, reinventing the ability to keep time. | | | | watch strapped to their wrists. |
| This was a huge step forward since sun dials | | | | During World War II the company name was |
| were only good on sunny days, and an hour glass | | | | changed to U.S. Time Company and kicked off a |
| had to be repeatedly turned. Even this proposed a | | | | wristwatch ad campaign, calling it a Timex. The ad |
| problem given that no one could carry around a | | | | featured a watch strapped to the end of Mickey |
| huge clock with them, plus only the rich could | | | | Mantles bat. Every man knew if the great Mickey |
| afford the expensive mechanisms. Another break | | | | Mantle wore a wristwatch, it was okay. Many ads |
| through discovery appeared in the 1400s. Small | | | | followed, but the most famous advertisement |
| coiled springs replaced heavy weights, therefore | | | | slogan was quoted by veteran newscaster, John |
| leading the way for personal watches. | | | | Cameron Swayze. "It takes a licking and keeps on |
| The company that drove the way for | | | | ticking!" Timex wristwatches were shoved in |
| revolutionizing affordable, practical clocks began | | | | dishwashers, strapped to jackhammers, and run |
| small. The Waterbury Clock company, much later | | | | over by cars. It seemed nothing could destroy a |
| to be known as the now famous Timex, was | | | | Timex watch. The ad campaign was so successful |
| founded in 1854. Before the slogan, "It takes a | | | | over 5 million were sold by the late 1950s and by |
| licking and keeps on ticking," made Timex a | | | | the end of the decade one in three watches sold |
| household name, the Waterbury Company | | | | in the United States was a Timex. |
| created the first inexpensive home clock every | | | | The word Timex is synonymous with the word |
| working class citizen could purchase. A few years | | | | watch. Today, almost anyone asked could |
| later their sister company, Waterbury Watch, | | | | remember at one time owning a Timex, or |
| manufactured the first economical mechanical | | | | showing one currently strapped to their wrist. In a |
| pocket watch, and then in early 1900 a pocket | | | | world full of economic collapse for so many |
| watch costing just one dollar, named "The | | | | businesses, Timex has proved they are a |
| Yankee", was put on the market. | | | | company that can truly, "take a licking and keep |
| The Waterbury Company was a company of | | | | on ticking! |
| firsts. They were the forerunners of inexpensive | | | | |