Judging from the volume of requests and inquiries we receive each year, clocks are one of the most popular product lines in IBM's long history. An increasing number of people -- collectors, dealers, customers, individual owners, and retired and current IBM employees -- want to know the age of their IBM clock or its value or how to repair and service it. In some cases, the clocks are still hard at work in their original settings decades after they were first shipped from the Endicott plant. And in many other cases, new owners have just acquired a used IBM clock as an antique and want to know something of its background and history.
For all those people, along with those with an interest in IBM history and products or in clocks generally, we have launched clock corner as an online repository of useful information about IBM time equipment. As you will see, from the close of the 19th century through 1958, IBM and its predecessors manufactured and sold a wide variety of devices and systems to record, use, transmit and display time. This first edition of Clock corner is just an initial gathering of illustrations, documents and data regarding some of those products. In the months to come, we'll periodically post additional information to answer your questions and add to the library of available resources on IBM clocks. If you don't find what you need today, please let us know and do check back from time to time for new material.
Some tips on using Clock corner
All of the documents posted here are in .pdf format and can be viewed using Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® version 3 and above. If you are not sure how to work with files in this format, here are some basic instructions:
To browse a pdf file:
If you already have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® installed, and your browser is configured to use it to open the pdf file, click on the file to browse it without downloading it.
To download a pdf file:
Using Netscape® Navigator®, hold down the shift key and click on the pdf file.
Using Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, right click on the pdf file. In the resulting dialog box click on Save Target as... After the pdf file has been downloaded, use the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® to view or print the file.
To get a close-up view of an illustration:
Use the magnifying glass icon in Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® to zoom in or out of any image in one of the documents.
To get the latest version of Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®:
And now, welcome to the Clock corner reference room.