The first Mickey Mouse watch was made way back in 1933 by the Ingersoll Waterbury Clock Co. of Waterbury and was a single handed rescue of the company from bankruptcy by Mickey! A joint venture was formed between the failing watch manufacturer and the rising star of the movie world, Walt Disney Productions. This brought about the production of the very first 'Mickey Mouse Watch' for boys in 1933. Launched in Chicago, by the genius promoter Herman Kamen who was brought in by Walt Disney, to exploit the Disney brand via the powerful icon of Mickey Mouse. This proved to be hugely beneficial to both Ingersoll and Walt Disney...
Ingersoll manufactured the original watch which was originally priced at .25 and later lowered to .95. A pocket watch soon followed and this was priced at .50. The first watch was manufactured with a round bezel and had three little Mickeys on a rotating disk, the disk moved around in steady increments with each second. This famous watch has been in continuous production in some form since 1933. Somewhat sacrilegiously in the 1960's Mickey's figure did not even appear on the watch at all being replaced with the words, "Mickey Mouse" merely written on the watch face.
Ingersoll manufactured Mickey Mouse watches through out the 1940s and 1950s and in the 1960s Ingersoll became US Time which eventually ended up as Timex. In tune with the age, they went about designing new classics such as the iconic Mod Watches. A rare and much sought after watch was the backwards Goofy, manufactured by Helbros. Somewhat quixotically the numbers were placed in backwards order to accommodate Goofy's hands moving backwards a little difficult for learning to tell the time! As soon as they appeared in 1972 the watches gained a cult status. The original cost of the watch was .95 but by the mid 1990s enthusiastic collectors were willing to pay upwards of 0. Eventually, several different manufacturers were licensed to make Disney watches, starting with Bradley in 1972 followed in 1987, Lorus. Today some of the most well known watch makers are proud to be associated with Mickey Mouse and his friends including Seiko, Fossil, and Colibri.
