1950s Mickey Mouse TIMEX / US TIME Wristwatch for Kids
Here is a small watch from the 1950s, probably early 1950s, by US TIME featuring Mickey Mouse. It is very similar to an earlier watch by "Ingersoll," (US TIME) branded with Ingersoll on the dial, which probably dates from the late 1940s. The watch is about 20 mm across, without the crown, and has a case identical to that of other kids watches (Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Cinderella, Zorro, Hopalong Cassidy, Davey Crocket, etc.)
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With the case removed, you can really see the dial. As with most of these small kids watches from the 1950s, there is no TIMEX on the dial. Just © W.D.P. (Walt Disney Productions,) lower right. The 21 in very small lettering at the top, hidden when assembled, indicates that the #21 mechanical movement is used. The Mickey design is similar to other watches made before and after, showing the mouse with his characteristic red short pants, yellow shoes, and yellow gloved hands. He is smiling, and has an upward gaze. His face is colored by numerous small red dots, reminiscent of the Ben-Day dots printing technique, though only one color is used. More on this later, but my kid saw was on the sofa reading his book while I was writing this page, saw the image, and wondered if I had drawn the dots myself. I said no, it comes that way, and he said, "It looks like he has chicken pox, and that he's happy that he has chicken pox."
Drawing of the watch, from a package insert page that accompanied a large shipment of a few dozen watches sent to retailers. It has "Ingersoll," lettering on the dial left near Mickey's nose, but otherwise seems identical to my watch.
My watch still has its original red patent leather strap. Patent leather always feels like fake leather, and it almost is. It's real leather as a base, but the part you see has undergone multi-step, complex where various coatings have applied to the point where it looks and feels like plastic. You can see that much of the stitching has come undone, alone the 12 o'clock side of the strap. Notice the lugs are drilled through, typical for this case, making strap changes easier.
Steel caseback, with the TIMEX "roundel" common to TIMEX/US TIME watches of that era.
Side view of the watch, showing part of the movement. The balance is the curved structure just under the 9. Notice the the dial is held to the front plate with metal tabs. More expensive watches have the dial held in with tiny screws, but the cheaper mass-produced US TIME watches had usually four fingerlike extensions to the dial with smaller "nubbins" at the tips of these extensions. These nubbins were slotted into holes in the front plate, and then bent back to secure everything in place.
There is a brass holder the movement. Movement slots into the holder, and the holder then slots into the caseback, and then the front case/crystal assembly snaps on. Notice someone's fingerprint on the inside of the holder.
Another view of the holder. Those small tabs stamped out from the "floor" of the holder serve to creates a springlike tension, always trying to push the movement to the front, when it's all assembled, to prevent any rattling of the movement. They really think of everything, don't they.
Crown looks ridiculously big, for the size of the watch. It's big, anyway, compared to crowns in general, but there may be a good reason. I wonder if they made the crown larger so that the smaller fingers of children had an easier time with winding and setting the watch.
Probably made at the US TIME factory in Little Rock, Arkansas. Here's also a nice look at the metal dial tab that slots into a hole on the front plate.
I really enjoy the red hour numerals on the dial. Shape seems vaguely "Modernist," to me. And it's much better red than say black. Picture all the red marks as black, and see if you agree.
Let's return to the innumerable red dots on Mickey Mouse's face. My kid called them chicken pox. I thought measles. Either way, a dermatologist might call it a maculopapular rash, tending toward vesicles. (Sorry if this bothers anyone.) But seriously, look at it! I do believe they were trying to give his face a "pink" appearance by depositing all the red dots on a background of white dial background, so that the eye sees pink. Maybe there was no good pink colored pigment to apply a solid block of paint, the way they did for the pants, legs, shoes, etc. Returning to the Ben-Day dots, which dates back to 1879, I believe the same effect is attempted here.
Artist Roy Lichtenstein played with the use of Ben-Day dots in much of his work, as in this example. Mickey has this same effect, though the application on the watch is more crudely done.
Here is a later MM watch from the 1960s, where the Ben-Day technique has been abandoned, and instead a homogeneous, dot-free color has been applied to the face.
This is a different watch from mine, appears to be earlier. It's a rectangular case Ingersoll MM watch, and you can see the dots on Mickey's face are less coarse, smaller, and don't protrude beyond the margins of his face. Somehow, between this watch and my watch, the application and design became more crude and less fine.
I am still a fan of the crude dot application, on my 1950s MM watch. Kind of makes this a great thing, to me. Maybe an artifact of mass-production and cost-cutting that made US TIME / TIMEX into what it became, so in that respect you have to kind of celebrate it.
Mickey Mouse, rendered in greyscale. Remember, Mickey Mouse debuted in 1929 in the black and white cartoon, "Steamboat Willie," so this is kind an ode to that.
A different watch, also mine. This is an "Ingersoll" branded Mickey Mouse watch from US TIME, larger than the one featured on this page. Notice that in addition to the Ingersoll name on the dial, the Mickey face has the higher quality fine red dots, and at every five minutes at the dial edge, there is a red dot. Smaller one lacks those five minute markers. Notice also the bezel of the case has radially-oriented notches. Look at the discontinuous circle cut into the dial from years of the hour hand rubbing against the dial. I love these effects.
Early 1950s Mickey Mouse children's watch from US TIME / TIMEX. Very much red-themed, with to me a coherent design sense. Great red numerals on the dial. Mickey mouse face full of red dots.
Thanks for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact:
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches.
