Timex Group Museum Closing
Timexpo: The Timex Group Museum in Waterbury, Conn., is a fascinating place for fanciers of watches and their history, but alas, there aren’t enough of them to keep the facility going. After just 14 years, the museum will be closing its doors on September 30.
The museum’s rather unassuming location between a strip mall and a highway gives no hint of the treasures within which date back to the 1850s and tell the history of Timex watches and clocks. A visitor will find wall texts explaining how the Waterbury Clock Company grew into the Timex brand, known for reasonably priced timepieces with memorable products names like Armalloy, Radiolite and Sweepster. Timex is also responsible for the first Mickey Mouse watches.
Fortunately, new homes have been found for most of the exhibits with some going to Timex corporate headquarters in Middlebury and others bound for Waterbury City Hall and various museums. One is the Mattatuck Museum, which has plans to exhibit the Timexpo items in a special gallery. Also getting Timex antiques are the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and the National Watch & Clock Museum in Columbia, PA.
The museum is now open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and admission is free. Children can learn how to make a real clock or make their own crafts with watch parts. On display are many clocks and watches manufactured in Waterbury starting in 1854 as well as videos of the famous Timex torture test commercials.
Timexpo: The Timex Group Museum is a fascinating look at the history of watchmaking and how one company grew from a small local plant into one of the major names in the watch industry. Unfortunately, this collection will be under one roof for only a few more days so if you want to check it out, get over to Waterbury, Conn., before September 30.
