Home and Living

Wondering what horse clocks are? Take a guess. They are clocks, which had a horse as an adornment. Brief history of horse clock is something that you need to know. Towards the mid of the 20th century a firm called Mastercrafters Clock materialised after closing down their radio manufacturing unit. Originally this company was known by the name Mastercrafters Clock and Radio. After closing down their radio manufacturing unit they got full blown in clock business and were truly the master till 1980s. They were awarded several patents for their unique designs and one such design happens to be the horse clocks. Mastercrafters had a deal with Hartland Plastics and Breyer Molding Company to produce models of horses to adorn the mantle clocks. Hartland and Breyer created new styles of horses in their own unique way. Hartland had horses that would face right with mane on the right side and had dark brown bases to light marble coloured ones. Breyer Molding created around 2000 different models of horses to adorn the clocks of Mastercrafters. The horses were made of plastics to porcelain pieces.

Famous Horse clocks

1. Breyer Molding supplied horse molds to Master crafter until the clock company could no longer pay them. One of their first models was of the serial number Breyer #57. This clock has a western horse saddled standing near the mantle clock and its their first original piece.
2. Breyer #571 was the anniversary American Saddlebred clock that was manufactured to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brayer. In the early 1950’s to early 70’s the horses moulded by Breyer had a glossy finish. Though they were plastic they had the appearance of china porcelain.
3. Victor horse clock is the mastercrafters improved version of electric clocks with self-starting motors. This was western horse was made of plastic and hand painted and the horse was designed by Harland company.

Some of the models of the horses that Breyer’s supplied Mastercrafters were glossy Appaloosa Mustang, dark version known as charcoal mustang, Gold Charm Mustang and Misty of Chincoteague and a model called stormy which has three foals of Misty of Chincoteague. Once the deal with Mastercrafters was completed both Hartland and Breyer entered the market to make horses for kids and adults who loved to collect horses. The charm of horse clocks still continues. They are considered as antiques. But today you have contemporary clock companies coming up with new models of horse clocks to suit the contemporary homes.