Sessions Clock Company
A Bristol hardware family took over a struggling clock firm in 1902, renamed it Sessions, and carried it from mantel clocks into electric clocks and timers.
Before Sessions: Forestville and E. N. Welch
Clocks were made on the Sessions site long before the Sessions name appeared. In 1833 three cabinetmakers, Jonathan C. Brown, William G. Bartholomew and William Hills, bought land on the Pequabuck River in Forestville, part of Bristol, and formed the Forestville Manufacturing Company. A merger in 1835 with a business run by Elisha N. Welch and Thomas Barnes Jr. brought in brass clock production, and by 1845 the firm was making more finished clocks than any other in Bristol, according to the Connecticut Mills survey.
A fire destroyed the factory in 1853, and by 1857 poor management had led to bankruptcy. Welch, the largest creditor, bought the company and merged it with other local firms into the E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company. Welch died in 1887, his son James took over, and the business slid into receivership in the mid-1890s. Two fires in 1899 destroyed much of the plant, which was rebuilt with borrowed money. Sources differ slightly on Welch's start: Connecticut Mills has him in a clock business by 1835, while Historic Buildings of Connecticut, which gives his dates as 1809 to 1887, says he began manufacturing clocks in the 1850s.
The Sessions family takes over
The Sessions family were already established Bristol manufacturers. Historic Buildings of Connecticut traces their business to 1870, when John Humphrey Sessions merged his wood turning shop with a trunk hinge factory founded by his late brother. John Humphrey Sessions, who lived from 1828 to 1899, later took his son John Henry into partnership, and in 1895 the family built a large foundry on Farmington Avenue in Bristol.
In 1902 William E. Sessions and his nephew Albert L. Sessions bought enough E. N. Welch stock to take control, and within months they owned nearly all of it. Early in 1903 the company was renamed the Sessions Clock Company; Historic Buildings of Connecticut gives the date as January 9. The family invested in the plant and equipment and moved into electric movements.
Electric clocks, timers and kitchen clocks
Sessions struggled in the 1930s but stayed afloat by selling inexpensive electric clocks. In the 1950s its cheap plastic alarm and kitchen clocks sold well, though by then clocks were only about a third of the business; the rest was timers and switches for motors, gear units and appliances. Employment peaked at about 1,000 in 1953, up from roughly 200 just after World War II.
Not every product worked. Connecticut Mills mentions The Lady, a family-planning clock the company sold briefly in the 1950s, which proved unpopular and was quickly dropped.
See also: kitchen and wall clocks that run on batteries on OnlineClock.app.
Identifying and dating a Sessions clock
Sessions usually put its name on the dial. A wood and metal mantel clock from about 1910 at The Henry Ford reads Made by the Sessions Clock Co., Forestville, Conn, U.S.A.
The company name gives a firm dividing line. The Sessions name was adopted in January 1903, so a clock from the same factory marked E. N. Welch was made earlier, while a Sessions mark means 1903 or later. An electric movement points to the later decades, since electrified movements came in after the Sessions takeover and cheap electric clocks carried the company through the 1930s.
If the dial is unmarked, look for a label on the back or a stamp on the movement, and compare the case with reprinted Sessions catalogs.
See also: swapping a tired movement for a new one on OnlineClock.app.
What became of Sessions
The company declined from the late 1950s, and accounts of its last years differ. Historic Buildings of Connecticut says it was sold in the 1950s and eventually liquidated, with the factory buildings sold off by the early 1970s. Connecticut Mills says North American Philips Corporation, the Norelco company, bought it in 1969 and renamed it the Sessions Company, and that the Bristol plant closed in the early 1970s. The Forestville complex later housed small industrial and commercial firms, and Connecticut Mills notes it was listed for sale in November 2023.
Questions people ask
How old is my Sessions clock?
If it says Sessions, it was made in 1903 or later, when the E. N. Welch company was renamed. Earlier clocks from the same Forestville factory carry the Welch name. Electric movements generally indicate later Sessions production.
Is the Sessions Clock Company still in business?
No. The company declined from the late 1950s, passed to North American Philips in 1969 according to one account, and its Forestville plant closed in the early 1970s.