Hobbies And Interests
E.N. Welch
Little is known about the early history of the E.N. Welch Company. It was one of numerous firms operating from the town of Forestville, Connecticut. The Sessions family foundry, located in nearby Bristol, produced casings for the Welch firm, and when the economic depression negatively impacted the clock maker, the Sessions family provided capital to keep the plant operating. They also received a share in the company for their investment.
Sessions Clock Company
The E.N. Welch Company became the Sessions Clock Company in 1903 when the family took over the management. Rather than purchase clock parts from other casting companies, Sessions manufactured all of the clock parts, including dials, faces, castings and movements.
Mantle Clocks
Turn-of-the-century interior design featured wooden kitchen clocks. Mantle-style clocks came into fashion for the common family in the 1920s and remained popular throughout the 1950s, and Sessions was one of the top producers of mantle-type clocks. The brass clock movements were also manufactured at the Sessions plant. These were so accurate, and well-made, that many other clock companies purchased movements from Sessions to fill their own casings.
Electric Clocks
Modern electric alarm clock collectors know the Sessions name for the clocks that the company made beginning in the 1930s. The plant continued to make wood and plastic casings for the electric clocks, and electrical movements that worked with precision. Sessions made specialty and novelty-shaped clocks, including fire mantles, cars and animals.
Timers
Sessions held the market lead in production of residential and commercial timers. Large, freestanding kitchen stoves (beginning in the late 1920s) featured built-in timers, and a large percentage of these were manufactured by Sessions. The company timers were also incorporated into car dashes, radios and television timers.
Decline
The company name changed to The Sessions Company in 1956 to recognize the importance of timing device sales, but the firm was still operated under W.K. Sessions Sr. The market, however, was changing. Because of foreign competition and the decline in clock sales due to changes in interior design, the Sessions Company experienced severe financial troubles in 1958 and incurred major debt.
Sale and Closing
The Consolidated Electronics Industries Corporation of New York bought out Sessions in 1958, primarily to acquire the timing production portion of the company. It continued to make clocks at the Forestville, Connecticut, manufacturing plant. The Session name had instant consumer recognition, so the new owners retained the original company name. United Metal Goods Company of Brooklyn, New York, another clock company (that also made home appliances that required timers), purchased the Sessions Company in 1968 and incorporated production into its own operations. The factory in Forestville was abandoned soon after the sale.