I recently had to go and get a new battery for my Mickey Mouse wristwatch. It was the only inheritance I got from my late uncle when he died more than 30 years ago and I have worn it ever since, frequently changing the battery and the wristband over the decades.
Once again, I got the same suggestion that it would be cheaper just to buy a new watch, and I gave my same reply: Just because something is new doesn't necessarily make it better.
In addition, I have a strong emotional attachment to the watch and not just because it once belonged to my uncle who had been an art instructor at a local college (with many gallery showings of his work) and got it simply because it was the “cool” thing at the time. He was not a Disney fan and was the only Disney item he owned.
It is not financially valuable, especially after all the wear and tear it has gone through, but every time I look at it, I smile. It tells the time and brings back memories. That's pretty wonderful.
Today, many people do not wear watches at all, but instead rely on their mobile devices. Anyway, for those who still have Disney watches and love them as I do, I thought I would write this week a little about their interesting history.
Ingersoll sold more than 500,000 Mickey Mouse wristwatches during the height of the Great Depression.
“I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!” frantically cried the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (1951). All the poor fellow had to do was exchange his faulty timepiece for a more reliable Disney character watch, which has been a timeless fashion addition for nearly 85 years.
In fact, a delightful picture of the worried White Rabbit holding his famous pocket watch appeared on his own special limited-edition wristwatch in the 1990s and still keeps perfect time today.
For more than eight decades, every boy and girl (and many adults who are children at heart) desired a Disney character watch as yet another physical connection to their love of the magic of Disney. One of the greatest marketing success stories of the 20th century was the appearance of the first Disney character watch.
During the depths of the Depression, in the year 1934, when every penny earned was carefully spent, Mickey Mouse sold more than $35 million worth of merchandise. A portion of that impressive income came from the sale of more than 500,000 inexpensive Mickey Mouse wristwatches, manufactured by the Ingersoll Waterbury Clock Company of Waterbury, Connecticut.
Originally meant just for children, more than 11,000 of these colorful timepieces were sold at the Macy's Department store in New York City on the very first day of their release in 1933.
The genius behind this historic partnering was affable Kay Kamen. Herman “Kay” Kamen was a merchandise promoter recruited by Walt Disney to find novel ways to market the Disney brand using Walt's stable of animated celebrities like Mickey Mouse.
After only eight weeks of production, the Mickey Mouse wristwatch became such a success that Ingersoll added 2,700 people to its 300 employee workforce, and the surge of work rescued the company from going bankrupt as it had planned before the watch deal was made. By June 1935, the company had sold more than 2.5 million watches.
The white cardboard dial face of the original Mickey Mouse watch featured a white faced, pie-eyed Mickey who pointed at the hour and the minute with his two yellow gloved hands. Between his bare legs was a round second hand insert with three tiny Mickey Mouse figures perpetually chasing after each other to denote the seconds.
The artwork was designed by August Shallack, who worked in advertising for United Artists, which was distributing Disney animated cartoons at the time, and the design was copyrighted in June 1933 by Walt Disney Enterprises.
How excited was the Depression-era population to have Mickey telling time on their wrists? At the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, the Mickey Mouse wristwatches produced at the Ingersoll exhibit outsold the official commemorative World Fair wristwatch three to one.
Ingersoll built a temporary mini-factory where visitors to the fair could order a watch, then see it being made and pick it up shortly afterward. To meet the demand, Ingersoll had to produce an incredible 5,000 watches a day.
The watches originally sold for $3.25 (but that price was soon lowered to $2.95) and were packaged in a reddish orange, black and white cardboard box featuring images of Mickey, Minnie, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and Pluto. Actually, a $1.50 Mickey Mouse pocketwatch made at the same time with a fob is much more valuable today because fewer were produced and fewer survived. The use of the phrase “Mickey Mouse” as a derogatory term first appeared in the 1940s and was a reference to the cheaply made watches that often fell apart.
Almost as popular as Mickey Mouse in 1934 were the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, so Ingersoll created a new wristwatch based on the well-publicized 1933 animated short featuring those characters. However, the wolf's wide open jaws revealed sharp pointy teeth threatening the happy and unaware trio of little porkers and reportedly frightened young purchasers.
On the pocketwatch version, the back had a die-embossed personal message: “May the Big Bad Wolf Never Come to Your Door — Walt Disney.” So, Ingersoll sought another Disney character to match the mighty mouse.
Lovable Mickey Mouse still reigned supreme in the world of children's wristwatches, but his fame was being challenged on the big screen by an irate duck. In 1935, Ingersoll made a Donald Duck wristwatch. The feisty feathered fellow held red and blue navy signal flags pointing to the numerals. As the flags moved, it looked like Donald was signaling an important message to the owner of the watch.
The original watch is highly prized today because it was only originally issued in a limited quantity compared to the Mickey Mouse version. In 1938, Ingersoll experimented with a “new and smaller deluxe Mickey Mouse wristwatch” that was rectangular in shape for the first time to entice fans.
New production of all Disney watches ceased at the beginning of World War II, because of the difficulty in getting the needed material and the fact that the U.S government had declared the making of novelty watches as non-essential during wartime.
However, manufacturing resumed in time to celebrate Mickey's 20th birthday in 1948, with a release of 10 watches in a special limited-edition “Birthday Series” supported by colorful counter displays featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
For the very first time, Pluto, Daisy Duck, Bambi, Jose Carioca, Pinocchio, Dopey, Jiminy Cricket, and even Bongo the Wonder Bear from Fun and Fancy Free (1947) had watches dedicated to them. These new treasures were advertised as the “Technicolor Hit of the Season!” and several had luminescent paint on the watch hands (although Bambi had luminescent ears instead!).
Many times over the years, the image of Mickey and the other characters changed to reflect the changes made in the official model sheets as the characters' appearances evolved. The original pie-eyed happy-go-lucky Mickey of the 1930s was soon replaced by a plumper, long pants wearing suburban mouse with full eyeballs who more closely resembled the international icon that was appearing on the new medium of television and at Disneyland.
With the opening of the Disneyland theme park in 1955, a special Mickey Mouse wristwatch was released with a red “vinylite” wristband backed up with “real leather” on the inside featuring a porcelain bow-tied Mickey Mouse figurine with a short sleeved yellow shirt and blue long pants accompanying the timely treasure. For decades, there have been an exclusive watches produced just for the Disney theme parks worldwide.
On March 27, 1957, Walt Disney himself was presented by U.S. Time executives with the 25 millionth Mickey Mouse wristwatch at a special ceremony at Disneyland. A nomenclature change in the world of Disney watches happened in 1957, as well.
Helping people get to places on time for more than 35 years with the perfect sprinkle of Disney pixie dust, Ingersoll changed its name to U.S. Time in 1957 and then around 1968 to Timex. They had operated a watch shop on Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland since its opening in July 1955, where that special ceremony was held.
To meet the ever-growing demand for a wide variety of Disney inspired timepieces, several companies from 1968 to 1972 were licensed to produce Disney watches, including Timex, Helbros, Hamilton, the Vantage Watch Company, and Elgin.
While Mickey Mouse remained, without question, the most popular character on all these watches, several companies also had great success with a Cinderella wristwatch. It was adored by young girls who even then dreamed of being a Disney princess.
In fact, this distinctive piece of feminine jewelry was considered a status symbol by many young girls and, over the years, was packaged in a “glass” slipper (actually clear Lucite plastic) to add to the magic of the Cinderella story.
Mickey not only told the time, but the plucky little fellow easily adapted to the ever-changing times of the world. Produced from 1968 to 1971, modern “Mod” Mickey watches with wide straps were as cherished as the vintage classics of years gone by. Anyone who was anyone important adorned their wrists with what became the new international fashion statement.
These prized possessions appeared on the wrists of celebrities from models to movie stars including Grace Kelly, Sammy Davis Jr., John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Lauren Hutton, and television talk show host Johnny Carson. Astronaut Wally Schirra wore a Mickey Mouse watch as a symbol of America aboard the Apollo 7 spacecraft that orbited the Earth in 1968. Astronaut Gene Cernan wore his Mickey Mouse wristwatch on his trip to the moon on Apollo 10 in 1969.
More than 1,800 different varieties of Disney watches were produced by Bradley Time, a division of Elgin, from 1972 to 1985. This massive amount guaranteed that Disney fans had the widest selection ever in history to choose their special favorite character. Some of these watches were sold exclusively at Disneyland and Walt Disney World and were lovingly purchased by both royalty and commoners.
In the September 18, 1978, issue of Time magazine, it stated:
“America's No. 1 mouse and Japan's No. 1 man are old friends. Ever since his tour of Disneyland in 1975, Emperor Hirohito has treasured a memento of his trip: a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. Even on the most formal occasions, His Majesty has been observed wearing his Mickey Mouse watch.
“Thus, there was dismay in the royal household when the trusty watch stopped ticking, and concerned palace chamberlains rushed it to Tokyo experts specializing in American timepieces. The diagnosis? A new battery was needed. Last week, his hands moving again, Mickey was reunited with Hirohito.”
The year 1975 was Hirohito's first visit to the United States, and he met people like President Ford and John Wayne. He was most excited about a trip to Disneyland where he signed the guest book but nothing brought him greater joy than getting a Mickey Mouse watch.
In the Lodi News-Sentinel newspaper for February 25, 1989, it was reported that upon his death earlier that week, Hirohito was buried with some mementos he treasured most in life, including a microscope that he used in marine biology and a list of sumo wrestlers, his favorite sport. What really made the headlines was that he was buried wearing his Mickey Mouse watch.
While Mickey and Donald have always been good-natured rivals, one of the only watches featuring both of the classic characters together was manufactured by Lorus, a division of Seiko, who produced Disney watches from 1986 to the late 1990s.
Lorus wanted to enchant Disney fans by expanding the world of Disney watches where it had never been before in its decades-long history. In the process, Lorus devised one of the most unique Disney watches ever created.
One of the funniest characters of the Fab Five had yet to appear on a character watch perhaps because no one felt comfortable having the befuddled Goofy tell the correct time. Keeping in mind Goofy's inventive nature, Lorus introduced the backward Goofy watch with a smiling full-figured Goofy floating in air.
This was a reverse mechanism timepiece that had the numbers placed backward on the dial, with the movement turning the hands in a counter-clockwise direction. While difficult to follow at first, telling time with this unusual collector's piece became easier over time, and Goofy fans were thrilled by this unique model.
These original Goofy watches became such sought after collectors pieces after their initial limited release, that the Disney Store reproduced it under its exclusive “Walt Disney Classic Limited Edition Watch Series” almost two decades later.
Feisty Uncle Scrooge McDuck had often been neglected when it came to merchandise that was produced in the United States before his stardom soared in the 1980s. Lorus made the first Scrooge watch reminding all who wore it that “time is money.” Lorus continued to innovate in other areas, as well, and was one of the first manufacturers to produce battery operated rather than wind up Disney watches.
A number of different companies continued to make Disney watches, including Pedre, Seiko, Colibri, Fossil, and Disney Time Works.
However, it has become more challenging to select just the right watch today than 80 years ago, because of the existence of so many different varieties and styles, from general use to limited edition, a wide range of prices from affordable to collectible often with precious metals and valuable gems like diamonds, and a wide selection depending upon the age of the wearer.
In addition, there is also the option, made so easy these days by venues like eBay, to purchase a vintage Disney character watch made decades ago rather than just through auctions and nostalgia dealers. Whatever the final decision, the owner is guaranteed a piece of the Disney magic.
At one time, guests at Walt Disney World could purchase a watch face done by a Character Show Artist trained by Disney Legend Ralph Kent, or extremely limited edition watches honoring Disney Legends, like Ward Kimball or Marc Davis.
Why have Disney character watches whether they are a simple child's timepiece or a more elaborate collectible been so cherished over the decades?
They are always fashionable and bring a big smile to everyone but more importantly, they proclaim to the world around them that the owner loves Disney to the end of time. Because, after all, the magic of Disney, and Disney characters, is timeless.
