Local history: the Skuller’s Clock
Skuller's clock, 119 West Main Street, Lexington.
It was made by the Brown Clock Company, Monessen, Pennsylvania. The clocks were marketed to and typically purchased by jewelry stores to be placed on sidewalks as advertising. They were made of cast iron and are very durable. Lexington's Skuller's clock was purchased in 1913, and while the exact price is not known, they were typically sold for $150, and if a jeweler couldn't pay it all up front, the Brown Clock Company was more than happy to set up an installment plan “with only a $15 down payment!” I was surprised to learn that the company was so confident in its product that it allowed the purchaser to write their own guarantee, something that I've never heard of before. The Brown Clock company was in business roughly from 1904-1924, its demise perhaps due to the rapidly escalating popularity of wrist watches and other forms of mass advertising.
Five basic clock models were produced, each weighing in the neighborhood of 1,600 lbs. and standing roughly 14 feet, and each clock's face and dial were custom designed with the jeweler's name and a choice of Arabic (1,2,3...) or Roman (IV, V, VI...) numerals. For the period, they were highly accurate and could be regulated to no more than plus/minus 1 min. a month.
The Skuller's clock is actually quite rare – it is the ONLY known surviving example with an optician's sign attached. Too, it is one of approximately 50 surviving Brown Street Clocks in the world – the number is not exact because of how they are counted -- for example, one clock was relocated to Detroit's Ford Museum, so is it now a street clock or a museum piece?; or if a clock was purchased and then recently relocated to a private residence, should it be counted in the same way as a clock in its original location ? Such are the questions that haunt street clock fanatics. (Word for the day: horologist, a person who studies time pieces)
The Skuller's clock is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1974, it was damaged in a severe storm and partially restored; in 2013, it was fully restored and Lexington had a “reset the clock” ceremony and after-party when it was turned back on. You can decide for yourself just how much fun it is watching clock hands move.
If you are interested in more info, there are several YouTube videos about Brown Street Clocks, and there are Facebook groups of people who actually drive to each known location to have their picture taken with clocks. Better yet, go downtown, have lunch, walk around, and check the time just the way our past neighbors did 108 years ago.
The attached pictures are: an ad for a Brown Street Clock that appeared in a wholesale jewelry cataloge; Skuller's clock circa 1928; Skuller's clock after storm damage, 1974; Skuller's clock today.
I'll let Mr. Benjamin Brown have the last word with an essay he wrote in 1916 on why you should buy one of his clocks. After reading it, I wanted to buy one:
Why buy a Brown Street Clock? Benjamin E. Brown, 1916
It's an established fact of business that to fix a thing in the public mind it requires on the average, not one but over twenty impressions. Fifty impressions make the fact stick harder. One hundred impressions make it a part of the mind itself.
This is the mission of the Brown Street Clock.
The people see the clock so often - they use it so frequently - they cannot think of clocks or watches or jewelry or even the strip of street on which your store stands without thinking of you.
The Brown Street Clock stamps you as a public spirited citizen who is willing to go right out on the street and serve everybody. This makes a deep impression. The people do not realize just how much of their confidence you have won by this simple service.
They may not resolve this impression into actual words of appreciation, but it is there and the time they want something they will go to you for it just as if they had always been steady customers. Subconsciously, they know that the man that renders unstinted service outside of his store, is going to give them good measure inside.
The Brown Street Clock is the ideal form of advertising - advertising that serves - that gives a man something that he wants. Advertising that instead of blatantly crying its wares once or twice and then stopping, is constantly on the job - establishing the dealers identity - embedding his name in public consciousness, winning for him that confidence and kindly appreciation that is 90% of the business mans assets.
If once you get a Brown Street Clock installed in front of your store, it will pay for itself. We can substantiate this statement by a column of testimonial letters from hundreds of the most progressive jewelers - in fact it would do you're heart good to read some of these enthusiastic testimonials which we are constantly receiving.
If there is anything about our proposition that you do not understand, don't hesitate to call upon us, and remember we give you a broad guarantee with every sale. If you prefer, you can write this guarantee yourself.
That is just how much faith we have in the Brown Street Clock from an efficiency standpoint. Pick out your clock today and we will load it on the next train headed your way.
