Mickey & Minnie Save the Day

It’s interesting to consider that in 1933, during the unrelenting grip of the Great Depression, Mickey Mouse was taking the world by storm, while the Ingersoll-Waterbury Watch Company was suffering from diminished sales and was forced to seek bankruptcy protection as a means to save its few remaining assets, like so many other businesses across the country at the time.

Being the innovator he was, Disney’s merchandise wizard, Kay Kamen, sensed a potentially very lucrative opportunity, and he approached the beleaguered Ingersoll-Waterbury company with the idea of creating two special timepieces, a wristwatch and a pocket watch, both of which would feature Mickey Mouse on the face, with his yellow-gloved hands pointing to the time.  Kay’s intuition proved to be correct, as the watches were an instant hit, with Macy’s alone selling 11,000 units in only one day…during the depression!  Bolstered by Mickey’s growing worldwide fame, the time pieces continued to be popular, selling over 2½ million units over the next two years.  In turn, the ensuing revenue allowed The Ingersoll-Waterbury Watch Company to avoid bankruptcy and instead expand its payroll during the heart of the depression from 200 employees to over 3,000 in the span of only a few weeks.

You can learn more about Kay Kamen and read stories about early Disney merchandise in the book, Disney History - Rare & Unknown.