The Ansonia Clock Company, established in 1851 in Ansonia, Connecticut, by industrialist Anson Greene Phelps in partnership with clockmakers Theodore Terry and Franklin C. Andrews, initially focused on producing a variety of clocks, including mantel and wall models. In 1904, the company expanded into watchmaking, introducing non-jeweled pocket watches to their product line. Over the next 25 years, Ansonia produced an estimated ten million watches, primarily affordable, mass-produced timepieces.
However, the economic challenges of the Great Depression led to a decline in demand, and in 1929, the company sold its timekeeping machinery and tooling to the Soviet government’s trading company, Amtorg, effectively ending its watch production.