Simplex Time Recorder Company
The Simplex Time Recorder Company was founded in 1894 in Gardner, Massachusetts, USA following the invention of a button press time recorder by Edward G. Watkins. The company successfully manufactured and sold many models throughout the following decades, eventually buying out the IBM Time Division in the USA in 1958. Simplex bought Gledhill-Brook in 1964, which was subsequently renamed as Simplex Time Recorder Company (UK) Ltd.
Very few early Simplex models made it over to the UK. It appears those that did were possibly used by USA companies setting up factories abroad, rather than being imported and sold by UK distributors.
Some later Gledhill-Brook models were re-badged by Simplex after their takeover in 1964, until the eventual closure of Gledhill-Brook in 1980.
In 2001, the Simplex Time Recorder Company was acquired by Tyco International and merged with the previously-acquired Grinnell Fire Protection, to form SimplexGrinnell. Shortly afterward, the time clock division of Simplex was sold to Kronos Incorporated, a workforce management company.
As of 2023, Simplex-branded fire and security products are still made and sold by Johnson Controls, though the timekeeping systems element of the company operates only under Kronos.
Photos
Simplex button press recorder c.1920:
Here is a very rare Simplex button press time recorder which I restored in 2021.
I have documented the restoration, and many more photos and information can be found in the Restorations section of this website.
Simplex job timer c.1920:
I believe this clock was used at the first UK Ford assembly plant at Trafford Park in Manchester which opened in 1911, and later moved with the company to the Dagenham plant in 1931
