The Timexpo Museum in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

was dedicated to the history of

Timex Group Timex Group B.V., or Timex Group, is an American - Dutch holding company headquartered in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands and Middlebury, Connecticut. It is the corporate parent of several global watchmaking companies including Timex Group USA, Inc., ...

and its predecessors, featuring exhibits dating to the founding of

Waterbury Clock Company Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is an American global watch manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into ...

in 1854. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

was located in the Brass Mill Commons shopping center with its location marked by a high replica of an

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

Moai statue which connected with the museum's

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

exhibit. The museum covered with dedicated to the two main exhibits: the company's history of timepieces and archaeology. For decades, Waterbury has been known as the Brass Capital, despite a decline in manufacturing over time. The building that housed the museum was the former executive office of the Scovill Manufacturing Company and Century Brass Company, and is the only remaining building of the brass mill complex. Timex Group owed its origins to the Waterbury brass industry when the original clock company began in 1854 as a division of brass manufacturer Benedict & Burnham – a local competitor to Scovill. Waterbury Clock was spun off and incorporated on March 27, 1857 due to its success. The museum focused on important events in Timex Group history, including an exhibit on the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

commissioning Waterbury Clock Company in 1917 to provide

wristwatch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

versions of the

Ingersoll Ingersoll may refer to: People *Ingersoll (surname) *Ingersoll Lockwood (1841–1918), American lawyer and writer Places Canada * Ingersoll, Ontario United States * Ingersoll, Oklahoma * Ingersoll, Wisconsin * Ingersoll Township, Michigan * ...

Ladies Midget

pocketwatch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatc ...

for soldiers heading overseas. It included aspects of local history, including letters from

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

, who lived for a time in nearby

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, as well as exhibits concerning the travels of settlers across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Oceans based on the explorations of

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000&nb ...

. The museum was approved in 1999 and opened in May 2001. Museum costs were estimated at $4.8 million, with the Naugatuck Valley Development Corporation providing approximately $500,000 and Timex funding the rest. The final cost was $5.45 million, including $2 million from the Naugatuck Valley Development Corporation and the Connecticut Department of Economic Development and Community Development. The museum closed at the end of September, 2015, because of low attendance.

References

External links

Timexpo: The Timex Museum
{{coord, 41.552, -73.0351, display=title Buildings and structures in Waterbury, Connecticut Defunct museums in Connecticut Museums in New Haven County, Connecticut Museums established in 2001 Museums disestablished in 2015 History museums in Connecticut Industry museums in Connecticut Horological museums in the United States Timex Group 2001 establishments in Connecticut 2015 disestablishments in Connecticut

See also

References

External links