Vintage Warner Brothers Character Watches

It's always time for character watches...Watches with Character.

Vintage Bugs Bunny, Cool Cat, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Merlin the Magic Mouse, Pinky & the Brain, Porky Pig, Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Wile E. Coyote, Yosemite Sam character watches.

Warner Brothers Inc. was founded in 1923 by brothers Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner and established itself as a major American film studio before branching out to animation, television, video games, publishing, merchandising, music, theater and theme parks. In 1944, they bought Leon Schlessinger Productions which had created Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny and Tweety earlier in the 1930's and 40's and changed the name to Warner Bros. Cartoons.

Here are their earliest Warner Brothers character watches: 

In the 1940's, after WWII, Ingraham produced this large Porky Pig watch marked Warner Brothers Cartoons Inc. at the very top and his name below him. Smiling Porky is dressed in blue with matching blue trim, red numbers, and his hands to tell the time, always a plus with character watches.

A few years later in 1949, Ingraham produced this Porky Pig watch marked Warner Brothers Cartoons Inc. Here is Porky Pig in his blue shirt smiling with blue numbers outlined with a red circle and an inner circle of blue and red marks to note the minutes and with Porky's hands to tell the time.

 These came in these nice presentation boxes. American made!

Rexall Drugs produced this first Bugs Bunny watch in 1951. Sold exclusively at Rexall drug stores. These came in two versions, one with just regular watch hands (pictured directly below), which are the earlier ones and one with the more collectable carrot hands (see below). Smiling Bugs is lounging back with a carrot in his hand on a white background with red numbers and red minute marks and black hands to tell the time. Marked Warner Brothers Cartoons Inc. at the top and Made in Switzerland at bottom. These are highly sought after today esp with original red leather band.

 Here is the later Rexall Drugs version with the more collectable carrot hands. Smiling Bugs is lounging back with a carrot in his hand on a white background with red numbers and red minute marks and bright carrot hands to tell the time. Marked Warner Brothers Cartoons Inc. at the top and Made in Switzerland at bottom. What a prize!

Late 1950's, Sheraton produced this Cool Cat watch marked Sheraton W7 Swiss Made. Cool Cat is looking good walking with his green beret and matching green tie on a white background with black numbers and a nice pointer second hand too.

In the 60's this Bugs Bunny watch was produced for Warner Bros. exclusively for Sears Department store. (probably US Time) This is a nice but small watch with carrot hands and marked W7 (for Warner Bros. Seven Arts) at the bottom. Again, Bugs is lounging back with a big smile on a white background with grey numbers around the dial.

  Below we have the same basic watches and movements by an unknown maker for several different Warner Brothers characters, all with their backs marked anti-magnetic and stainless-steel back.
These are hard to find today:

This first example is marked "Bugs Bunny" in the middle but then has pics of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzales, FoghHorn LeghHorn, Henry Hawk, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd & Daffy Duck, marked Warner Bros. Inc. 1964 and black numbers around the dial. Very few of these turn up and may have been made for a foreign market. Notice the numbers are not on the outside of the pics but on the inside.

This watch is just of Bugs Bunny marked Warner Bros. Inc. 1965 and has smiling smug Bugs Bunny standing with a carrot in one hand and with his feet crossed on a white background with red numbers and red hands to tell the time.

  Here we have Daffy Duck marked Warner Bros. Inc. 1967 showing Daffy dancing with his straw hat and cane, dressed in a nice green jacket on a white background with blue numbers and blue hands to tell the time along with a matching original blue band.

Here we have Tweety Bird marked Warner Bros. Inc. 1964 with Tweety standing quietly, hands behind his back on a white background with black numbers and black hands to tell the time.

 In the late 60's, early 70's Sheffield produced this Merlin the Magic Mouse watch marked Swiss made W7 with Merlin wearing his usual top hat and tux practically saying his usual magic words "Atascadero Escondido" with his W.C. Fields mannerisms all on a white background with black numbers, black hands and a second hand to tell the time.

In the late 60's, early 70's Sheffield produced this Road Runner watch marked Swiss made W7 with the smiling Road Runner appearing to be running on a white background with black numbers, black hands and a second hand to tell the time.

In 1969, Sheffield produced this Daffy Duck watch marked Swiss made W7. Smiling Daffy Duck is looking good on a white background with black numbers and his black wings to tell the time AND with a glass back (see below). Hard to find today.

With the glass back feature, you can see the movement and its color-coded parts which the back of the box explains what does what.

 

 

 

 

 These Sheffield watches (Popeye 

was another one, see Popeye blog )

 came in these simple cardboard boxes 

with a round 

opening on the 

back to show the glass

 back feature of the watch. 

 

 

 

 

 

The back of the box explains what part 

of the watch does what and they

came with a small plastic magnifying

glass.

 

 

 

 

Box is extremely hard to find today.

 

 

 

 

  

In 1969, Sheffield also produced this super rare Porky Pig watch marked Swiss made W7. Smiling Porky Pig is dressed in his usual blue vest and red tie on a white background with black numbers and his gloved hands to tell the time AND with a glass back (see below) just like above Daffy Duck watch.  Hard to find today.

 Also in the 70's, Sheraton produced this Daffy Duck watch marked Swiss made W7 with smug Daffy standing with wings on his hips. This has black numbers, black hands, and a black pointer second hand with a red tip. These are super rare today.

 Also in the 70's, Sheraton produced this Elmer Fudd watch marked Swiss made W7 with waving Elmer ready to hunt rabbits wearing his boots, green hunting hat, matching outfit and carrying his shotgun on a white background with black numbers, black hands and a black pointer second hand with a red tip.

also in the 70's, Sheraton produced this Porky Pig watch marked Swiss made W7 with smiling Porky tipping and waving his red hat wearing a blue shirt with red tie on a white background with black numbers, black hands and a black second hand to tell the time. A rare find. There must be a Bugs by Sheraton out there, but i haven't seen one. 

 also in the 70's, Sheraton produced this Wile E. Coyote watch marked Swiss made W7 with an upset looking Wile E. Coyote on a white background with black numbers, gold hands and a red second hand to tell the time.

also in the 70's, the Lafayette watch Company produced this Bugs Bunny watch marked Swiss made Warner Bros. Inc. with smiling Bugs on a white background with red numbers and his own hands to tell the time, always a plus with character watches.

Here is Bugs Bunny produced by R Gsell and Company for Warner Brothers. Bugs is wearing a red baseball cap and wearing his glove waiting to play ball on a white background with black numbers and his arms to tell the time along with a baseball that rotates for the second hand. Marked "I'm Bugs about baseball", Warner Bros. Inc. Swiss made. This watch is also featured in my Sports Character blog.

The Lafayette watch Company (marked R. GSELL and Company Inc. internally) also produced this Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote. Marked Warner Bros. Inc., Swiss made, it has the second hand as the coyote chasing the road runner around the dial on a white background with red numbers and gold hands to tell the time.

In 1971, Time Setters produced several nicely made watches with nice presentation boxes (see below) and big bold 70's MOD style bands:

Here we have Speedy Gonzales marked Time Setters Swiss movt, Hong Kong dial Warner Bros. Inc. 1971. Speedy is wearing his usual bright yellow sombrero with a white shirt, white pants and his red kerchief (hard to see) on a white background with black numbers, a red second hand and Speedy's hands to tell the time.

Here is Sylvester the Cat by Time Setters marked Warner Bros. Inc. Swiss movt, Hong Kong dial 1971. Sylvester is standing there smirking on a white background with black numbers, a red second hand and his hands to tell the time.

Here is Tweety Bird by Time Setters marked Swiss movt, Hong Kong dial 1971 Warner Bros. Inc. Tweety is standing quietly on a white background with his hands to tell the time along with black numbers and a red second hand.

and here is Yosemite Sam by Time Setters marked Swiss Movt, Hong Kong dial 1971 Warner Bros. Inc. Fiery Yosemite is wearing a blue 11-gallon hat, yellow shirt and red boots on a white background. His hands both hold guns in them and are used to tell the time along with black numbers and a red second hand.

 All of the Time Setters watches came with big bold 70's MOD style bands (original band is behind the black one pictured here) and these nice presentation boxes with the four characters on them marked Looney Time by Time Setters.

Also in the 1970's, we have this unusual Foghorn Leghorn by Remex with a more colorful illustration of his normal all white pictorial. Here is smiling blue feathered headed Foghorn with yellow feathered body on a light blue background with black numbers, black minute marks and his hands to tell the time. Marked Swiss made, Warner Bros. Inside is marked Remex Hong Kong.

This Bugs Bunny watch was also made in the 70's marked Swiss made W7 (for Warner Bros. Inc. Seven Arts). This just shows Bugs head and shoulders with a hand in the air as if his tipping a hat. Smiling Bugs has a long sleeve jacket and tie on a white background with black numbers, black hands, and a red second hand to tell the time.

Finally, we have this nicely made animated Pinky and the Brain pocket watch to share with you as it's a manual windup watch made in 1997 exclusively for Warner Brothers Store as a limited edition. Pinky is standing as if he's hypnotized while Brain is holding a pocket watch that moves back and forth as the seconds tick looking as if Brain is hypnotizing Pinky.

The back is beautifully detailed but hard to photograph, engraved to mark that this was specially made for Warner Bros. with Bugs Bunny sitting on top of the WB trademark

For more Information on Watches see:
The National Watch and Clock Museum:  https://nawcc.org/index.php/museum

The West Coast Clock & watch museum https://www.agsem.com/West-Coast-Clock-and-Watch-Museum.php which is located at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum http://www.agsem.com/
 

Any thoughts can be emailed to characterwatchtime@gmail.com

How much is your character watch worth???

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It's always time for character watches...Watches with Character.