Dept. of Small Things. In the deep recesses of our retro heart, we have never lost our affection for Big Ben clocks. We like the old ones we grew up with, and we even like the new ones that have the retro feel.
We were awoken this morning to a new one we'd never seen: a Big Ben Mini Travel alarm clock, which is a star. Unfortunately, we cannot find it anywhere online as it seems to be a Chinese knockoff (if you know where to get this, please comment below).
Big Ben's were originally (and still are) made by Westclox, which is now a part of Salton. Here's the history since 1909.
It took us some time to find out where they were all available and different models are all over the web. Their entire current lineup can be seen here, whereas antique versions can be found online easily through Google. MGR
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What a sweet flood of nostalgia this invoked! I can still vividly see/hear/feel the Big Ben my parents had, bedside, its cool enamelled metal case, the sound it made when being wound. And it was the first thing I ever saw that had that weird (but comforting) night-time luminescence. My Mom may in fact still have it or a newer but very similar version.
They also had a folding travel one, but the mechanism was seriously funky and I always felt like it was more bear trap than folding clock.
I used to work for Restoration Hardware 3 years ago and they carried the large Big Ben, a smaller version and the travel folding version. Not sure if they still sell them. I know L.L. Bean carries Westclox (namely the Moonbeam clock). i saw this -
www.google.com/froogle?q=Westclox+Travel+Ben+Clock
I bought the exact Big Ben clock featured in at Bed Bath and Beyond a few years ago.
The last place I saw the Big Ben Mini Travel Alarm that you mentioned was in the Vermont Country Store Catalog.