Back in the 1970s, my family started collecting Pequegnat clocks. A small Kitchener based company in Canada. Here is a brief history for those that love mechanical relics that still tell a story of our past!
Back in the late 1800s, a Swiss family of watchmakers named Pequegnat moved to Berlin, Ontario (which later became Kitchener). The most well-known member of the family, Arthur Pequegnat, was an ambitious guy. He started out with a jewelry shop, but then decided to jump on the bicycle craze and opened a bicycle manufacturing company in 1897.
But, as with all fads, the bicycle boom started to fade. So, Arthur got smart and, around 1904, he started to retool his bicycle factory to make clocks instead. It was a pretty big deal because Canada had tried and failed at mass-producing clocks before, but Arthur's Swiss clock-making skills and business smarts made it work.
His clocks were a huge hit. They were known for being solid, reliable, and proudly Canadian. He even named many of the models after Canadian cities, like the "Toronto" or the "Stratford," which was a clever marketing move that still works for collectors today.
The company kept ticking along, even through the anti-German sentiment of World War I (when Berlin became Kitchener and they had to change the name on some of their clocks). But after Arthur passed away in 1927, and with the rise of electric clocks and a shortage of brass during World War II, the company eventually couldn't keep up. The last Pequegnat clock was made in 1941, and the company officially closed its doors in 1964.
Today, Pequegnat clocks are super popular with collectors, especially in Canada, because they're a little piece of Canadian history.