Alarm Clocks - Quarterly Shipments, 1943 and 1944

From The American Horologist magazine, May, 1945

Alarm Clocks
Quarterly Shipments, 1943 and 1944

Shipments of alarm clocks during the fourth quarter of 1944, amounted to 1,406,331, an increase of 68 percent over the same period in 1943 and 7 percent over the third quarter, 1944. Of the total shipments in the fourth quarter, 1944, 70 per cent went to commercial outlets, as compared to 55 percent in the same period of 1943.

                   Shipments
Quarter            Total Units      Commercial   Other
1943 
1st Quarter 
2nd "              181,380             92          8 
3rd "              834,728             73         27 
4th "              835,961             55         45 
1944 - Total     5,113,414             70         30 
1st Quarter        975,675             62         38 
2nd "            1,411,905             70         30 
3rd "            1,319,503             76         24 
4th "            1,406,331             71         29 

Data on shipments to "Commercial" and "Other" are based upon the identification of such shipments in orders received by the manufacturer.

"Commercial" shipments include those going to wholesalers, distributors, retailers and other outlets normally selling to industrial plants, commercial concerns and households.

"Other" shipments include direct purchases from the manufacturer by military and export agencies, etc.

There was no production of alarm clocks during the latter half of 1942, because the supervisory personnel, skilled labor and machinery of the industry were urgently needed for direct war work. When production was resumed on a limited basis, it was arranged that "victory models" be made by specified manufacturers; however, victory models were pro-rated among all pre-war manufacturers who in turn, channelled the distribution of these clocks through their wholesale and retail customers.
Although the industry is still heavily engaged in war production, this concentration of production of alarm clocks and the pooling plan were discontinued 31,  1944, and controls defining type and specifications of clocks and materials were relaxed. Each manufacturer is now free to make his own clocks.

These data cover all alarm clocks, both spring wound and electric, representing shipments of the entire industry.