Tagline Of Timex

Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is an American worldwide watch manufacturing company that was founded in1854 in Waterbury, Connecticut. The tagline of Timex is ‘It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.’

Times Group is a manufacturer and seller of watches and jewelry. The company currently has over five thousand employees worldwide. Thomas Olsen had bought Waterbury Clock Company in New York in 1941 and the company was later renamed ‘Timex’. The name Timex is inspired by Time magazine and Kleenex.

Timex was reconstituted as ‘Timex Corporation’. However, later in the year 2008, the company was acquired by Timex Group B.V. who renamed it ‘Timex Group USA’.

Beginning of Endorsement

Timex started endorsements of wristwatches through various newspapers and magazines that featured celebrities like Mickey Mantle and Ben Hogan. However, the sales of watches remained unimpressive.

The company had hired the advertising firm Hirshon-Garfield. Timex and the advertising firm moved to television for the advertisement of the brand with hopes of elevating sales to the desired level. Former NBC news anchor John Cameron Swayze was hired as the spokesman for the live advertisement series that were dramatic and put the Timex watches for tests with paint mixers, jackhammers, washing machines, dishwashers, water skiers, and even an 87-foot drop-off La Quebrada Cliffs in Acapulco, Mexico.

After each test, the commercial would have a reiteration of “Timex – It takes a licking and keeps on ticking”. The watches successfully testified in the commercial series. The series was called ‘Torture-Test’. The test commercial series was later continued with other celebrities like Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and Mae West.

Reason Behind Adoption of ‘It Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking’

Interestingly, ‘It takes a licking and keeps on ticking’, is an idiom which means, means, being tough, having the endurance and capacity to absorb stress or damage while still being able to function. This tagline apparently refers to the ‘torture-test’ commercial series of the wristwatches manufactured by the company where the watches were put in harshest conditions for the test.

The company went through several name changes and has had several taglines before having the existing ones. Earlier, during the 1950s when it used to manufacture mechanical components for missile fuses, gyroscopes, accelerometers, guidance sub-systems, and other miniature precision items. During this time it was using the tagline ‘world’s largest manufacturer of watches and mechanical time fuses’.

Overview of the Wristwatch Maker

As Waterbury Clock Company from 1854 to 1944, the company manufactured brass wheels and gears. Then it was renamed United as ‘United States Time Corporation’. This name stayed from 1944 to 1969. It would manufacture mechanical components for missile fuses, gyroscopes, accelerometers, guidance sub-systems, etc. After this, in 1969 it was again renamed Timex Corporation and this name stayed until its acquisition by Timex Group B.V. in 2008 and was renamed Timex Group USA.

Timex Group group includes the Timex Business Unit (Timex, Timex Ironman, Nautica, Marc Ecko, and Helix); Timex Group Luxury Watches (Salvatore Ferragamo); Sequel (Guess, Gc), and Vertime (Versace).