INGERSOLL MICKEY MOUSE WRISTWATCH

Brand extensions began with this famous rodent

UNVEILED AT at the Century of Progress Chicago World Fair in 1933, Ingersoll’s Mickey Mouse wristwatches are an early example of branded movie merchandise. The partnership between the Connecticut watch manufacturer (which at the time went by the name of Ingersoll-Waterbury) and the Walt Disney Company was brokered by pioneering merchandising executive Herman Kamen. His firm held the entertainment empire’s licensing agreement for two decades starting from the early 1930s, as granted by Walt and Roy O Disney.

Kamen oversaw a great many product launches starring Disney mainstay characters, including the elephant Dumbo and, from 1937 onwards, Snow White and her seven friends. Ingersoll’s debut Mickey Mouse watch, featuring him in red trousers on the watch face, initially retailed at $3.25 before the price was lowered to $2.95, and it soon became a runaway success.

Through the ensuing decades, it inspired Ingersoll to release many variations on the theme. Today, surviving examples include a 1958 design featuring only Mickey’s hands – his yellow-gloved fingers pointing to hour and minute – and the detailed, tonneau-shaped ‘five notches’ case, which was produced between 1938 and ’42. It was most famously sported by Bob Geldof in Alan Parker’s 1982 live-action musical Pink Floyd – The Wall.

The model pictured here, too, shows the power of provenance. Listed in perfect condition on www.1stdibs.com, the wristwatch had been a present to the seller by self-taught American artist and sculptor Ernest Trova. Born in 1927 in Clayton, Missouri, Trova rose to art world fame between the late 1960s and 1970s, when his sculptures were exhibited widely.

Blending surrealism and pop art, Trova’s works – such as his celebrated Falling Man series – were shown at such institutions as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Trova was also invited to three Whitney Annuals and three Venice Biennales, and in 1969 the

New York Times rated Trova ‘among the best of contemporary American sculpture’.

Trova’s timepiece with chromed steel case has been dated to 1933. The lithographed face shows the mouse in signature red shorts; he also inspires the shape of the moulded links connecting an intricate stainless steel bracelet. For Trova, the choice of watch comes as little surprise: he was an avid collector of Mickey’s memorabilia and found much inspiration in the colourful world of American comic character toys.