Vintage Warner Brothers Character Watches

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

Vintage Warner Brothers Character Watches

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 for this rare find.

Here we have a late 1960s or early 1970s Speedy Gonzales by a foreign maker most likely unlicensed but still highly sought after. Smiling Speedy is wearing a red sombrero and red scarf with a blue shirt and blue pants on a yellow background with black 3,6,9, &12 numbers and black dots for the rest along with black minute marks, a red second hand and with Speedy's hands to tell the time for this hard to find treasure.

 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 and Cartoon Art see:

The National Watch and Clock Museum:  https://nawcc.org/index.php/museum

The West Coast Clock & watch museum is located at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum http://www.agsem.org

 

The Cartoon Art Museum https://www.cartoonart.org/
 

Any thoughts can be emailed to characterwatchtime@gmail.com

How much is your character watch worth???

For Legal info: https://characterwatchtime.blogspot.com/2019/03/legal-info.html
  

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

Vintage Popeye the Sailor & Friends Character Watches

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

Vintage Popeye the Sailor & Friends Character Watches 

Vintage Brutus, Olive Oyl, Popeye the Sailor, Swee' Pea character watches.

Popeye the Sailor was a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929 and was very popular in the 30’s. A good hearted sailor who loved his spinach and ate it when he needed extra strength. In 1960, he went from comics to television when King Features Syndicate commissioned a new series of cartoons titled "Popeye the Sailor" and in 1978, Hanna-Barbera Productions (see their watches) along with KFS produced a new Popeye television series, "The All-New Popeye Hour".

In 1934, New Haven created the first Popeye pocket watch for KFS. Marked Copyright by King Features Syndicate Inc. at the bottom. This pocket watch shows Popeye walking with his pipe in his mouth, wearing his usual white cap, blue pants, black shirt with a red collar and red shoes and has his tattooed arms as the hands to tell the time all on a white background with black numbers in yellow triangles, black minute marks except every fifth one which is red and between each number is a related character, the faces of Olive Oyl, Bluto, Castor Oyl, Rough House, Toar, Brutus, Oscar, Geezil and there is a sub dial with J. Wellington Wimpy on it that rotates for the second hand.

In 1935 they redid the exact same pocket watch as above but removed all of the surrounding characters to make it less busy.

 In 1935, New Haven created the first Popeye wristwatch for KFS. Marked King Features Syndicate Inc. at the bottom & marked copyrighted at the top. This large watch shows Popeye walking with his pipe in his mouth, wearing his usual white cap, blue pants, black shirt with a red collar and grey shoes and has his tattooed arms as the hands to tell the time all on a white background with black numbers and black minute marks.  It has faces of Olive Oyl, Bluto, Castor Oyl, Rough House, Toar, Brutus, Oscar, Geezil pics around the dial and J. Wellington Wimpy at the bottom which almost looks like a secondhand sub dial wheel, but its not. It came with a blue leather band. Hard to find today.

Olive Oyl, Bluto, Castor Oyl, Rough House, Wimpy, Toar, Brutus, Oscar, Geezil

In 1948, Varsity Watch Company with a Sperina marked movement produced this unlicensed Popeye watch (that also came in an unmarked box often known as the unknown maker watch) with Popeye the Sailor squinting as usual with his pipe in his mouth wearing his red sailor hat and blue sailor top with a white collar along with a pic of smiling Olive Oyl (in a red top) for the number three,  Swee' Pea for the number six and sleepy eye'd Wimpy for the number nine on a white background with black numbers for the rest of the numbers and black poorly depicted Popeye hands to tell the time.  These unlicensed (no marking on the dial (or box) except "Swiss") are highly sought after and hard to find today.

About 1962, Bradley created this Popeye watch for King Features Syndicate with their standard Swiss made movement at the time. Popeye is seen in a blue shirt with regular red collar, with his white cap and pipe and an open spinach can in his hand on a white background with black numbers, black minute marks and black hands to tell the time. Marked KFS Swiss made at the bottom.

In 1969, Sheffield produced this nicely detailed Popeye watch with him walking along in his regular black shirt with a red collar detailed with black, blue pants with a belt and red shoes. He's smoking his pipe and wearing his white cap on a white background with black numbers, black minute marks and his tattooed arms are used to tell the time with one holding an open can of spinach. Marked KFS Swiss made with original red vinyl band AND with a glass back (see below). This beauty is hard to find today.

This watch has a unique glass back feature and is clearly marked (inside) Sheffield Watch Corp 1969 unadjusted Swiss one jewel.You can see the movement and its color-coded parts which the back of the box explains what does what.

These Sheffield watches, along with

 (Daffy Duck & Porky Pig were others, see Warner Brothers 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 the 70's, Basis Watch was used to create several Popeye characters for King Features Syndicate. Here is Brutus walking along in a yellow shirt, brown pants with a belt. He has his red hat and red shoes on a white background with black numbers and his arms to tell the time along with a red second hand. Marked KFS and Swiss movement at the bottom and the back marked stainless steel water-protected anti-magnetic. Super rare today.

Basis Watch also produced this Olive Oyl & Swee' Pea for King Features Syndicate. Olive Oyl is in her standard long black dress with yellow accents, a red top and her large brown boots standing next to Swee' Pea who is wearing red baby clothes and a yellow cap on a white background and black numbers. Olive Oyl has a bracelet on each hand and her long skinny arms are used to tell the time. Marked KFS Swiss movt with original red vinyl band. Hard to find today.

Basis Watch also produced this Popeye & Swee' Pea MISMATCH watch with a pic of Olive Oyl. The pic of Olive Oyl's face is at the 10 position with just her head and a smile. Popeye is wearing his regular red collared black shirt, blue pants, belt and red shoes with his pipe and white cap on a white background with black numbers and black minute marks and again his tattooed arms to tell the time with a can of open spinach on the hour hand and a thin red second hand. Marked KFS Swiss movt. SUPER RARE as this is a  mistake with the picture of Olive Oyl and not Swee' Pea.

  Basis Watch also produced this PROPER Popeye & Swee' Pea watch. Swee' Pea's smiling face is at the 10 position. Popeye is wearing his regular red collared black shirt, blue pants, belt and red shoes with his pipe and tan cap on a tan background with black numbers and again his tattooed arms to tell the time with a can of open spinach on the hour hand and a thin silver second hand. Marked KFS Swiss movt for this hard to find beauty.

  Basis Watch also produced this Popeye watch. Same Popeye image as above with Popeye wearing his regular red collared black shirt, blue pants, belt and red shoes with his pipe and tan cap on a tan background with black numbers and again his tattooed arms to tell the time with a can of open spinach on the hour hand and a thin silver second hand. Marked KFS Swiss movt for this hard to find beauty.

Remex LTD produced this Olive Oyl by herself for King Features Syndicate. Olive Oyl is in a red dress and white top with her large black boots looking coyly on a white background and black numbers, sadly with Mickey Mouse hands as often the way Remex did and a red second hand to tell the time. Marked KFS in light red (hard to read) Swiss movt. Not seen very often so well worth it even with the Mickey hands. Internally marked Remex LTD Hong Kong, one jewel adjusted.

Here is Olive Oyl by herself with the proper arms, same watch as above but dial is golden (it does say Olive Oyl in red but its very faint). Olive Oyl is in a red dress and white top with her large black boots looking coyly on a gold background and black numbers and PROPER hands and a red second hand to tell the time. Marked Swiss movt.

 

 In the 1970's Bradley produced this nicely detailed Popeye watch for King Features Syndicate. Here is Popeye standing awkwardly with his white cap flying off still smoking his pipe of course. He's wearing his blue pants and black shirt with blue trim, a belt and shoes on a white background and his tattooed arms are used to tell the time, always a plus. There is an open can of spinach sitting on top of his name which is in yellow, with yellow numbers trimmed with blue and the 60-minute intervals marked off in black along with a black second hand. Marked 1979 King Features Syndicate Inc. at the bottom and Bradley Time Division on the back.

 

For more Information on Watches and Cartoon Art see:

The National Watch and Clock Museum:  https://nawcc.org/index.php/museum

The West Coast Clock & watch museum is located at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum http://www.agsem.org

 

The Cartoon Art Museum https://www.cartoonart.org/
 

 Any thoughts can be emailed to characterwatchtime@gmail.com

How much is your character watch worth???

For Legal info: https://characterwatchtime.blogspot.com/2019/03/legal-info.html
  

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