In 1962, Allied Clock moved production to Southern California and renamed itself the California Clock Company. In 1982, the owner of the California Clock Company convinced Ohio native and serial entrepreneur Woody Young to take over as President/Owner and keep Kit-Cat going strong into the new millennium.
But in the late 1980′s, the American Made legacy of Kit-Cat was almost lost! In the span of a few years, American electric motor manufacturing was almost exclusively relocated to Asia, leaving Kit-Cat without a US motor supplier. A battery motor powerful enough to move Kit-Cat’s exclusive “one-second” animation had yet to be invented. With no other alternative, the California Clock Company was driven to develop a new battery technology.
The Kit-Cat Klock is an art deco novelty style wall clock. It is in the shape of a grinning black cat with cartoon eyes that swivel in time with a pendulum tail that wags beneath. The clock is traditionally colored black, but models in other colors and styles are available. It first appeared during the 1930s. The clock is an iconic symbol of kitchens in pop culture.
The first clock was made in 1932 by the Allied Clock Company in Portland, OR. Allied subsequently moved to Seattle, Washington., and then to southern California in 1962, whereupon it was renamed California Clock Company. The clock design has changed very little in the intervening years, with the first generation, manufactured in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, having two paws, while newer models have four paws and a bow tie. The words “Kit-Cat” were added to the clock face in the 1980s. The original clocks were powered from the AC mains, but most models sold since the late 1980s use batteries. The manufacturer estimates that the clock has been sold at an average rate of one every three minutes for the last 50 years.
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