[MRCA] FS: Chelsea Merchant Marine Radio Room Clock WW-II Vintage

[Mike Morrow]

Jeep wrote:

> I've been wondering what these clocks might be worth.  I have a
> Chelsae Maritime Commission full-size clock that came from the
> Radio Americas station on Swan Island.

I have a weakness for WWII-vintage U.S. Maritime Commission radio console clocks.  Every one that I have seen have been made by Chelsea (opens from left side) or Seth Thomas (opens from right side) with six-inch face.  One of mine has the ship's name of the 1943 Liberty ship SS "Otis Skinner" on the back, with "8-8-1944" date.  This ship was hit by kamakazi aircraft in the PTO while carrying munitions, but she survived the war, was sold to a Swedish company in 1946, and was scrapped in 1967.

> Mine does not have the colored segments,  however.  I asked Chelsea a
> few years ago about them and was referred to a dealer who made replicas.
> I elected not to modify mine, however.

That was a very good decision.  AFAIK, there were never any of the larger eight-inch face clocks that served in a merchant vessel's radio room.  The standard radio console clock was always mounted on the radio console (like the 3U and 4U) itself in clear view to the radio officer, so the standard six-inch clock face is what fits in such a position.  The eight-inch clock would have more likely been found on the bridge and other places.

I have collected several variants of these clocks made by Chelsea and Seth Thomas, including:

U.S. Maritime Commission eight-inch general use, and six-inch radio console use,
U.S. Navy six-inch 24-hour,
U.S. Army M2 six-inch Message Center Clock with luminous (at one time) hands.

You never need to change the batteries in any of them!

You can often find these clocks at military collector and gun shows running in the $250 to $450 range.  Prices tend to be higher on eBay.  The radio console clocks usually bring a little premium over the other Maritime Commission clocks.  They are my favorite.  I licensed with the commercial Second Class Radiotelegraph certificate almost 40 years ago...I appreciate the face markings for the silent periods and the four-second dash timing bars designed to help manually send signals that triggered auto-alarm receivers on 500 kHz.  Those signals were normally sent by an automatic keyer...they would be the first distress signals coming from a stricken vessel.  Only after that would the unique ...---... (not SOS!) distress signal be sent. 

Mike / KK5F