blackforest clock company and forestville clock company

The Blackforest Clock Company of Toronto, Ontario was set up by Leopold and Sara Stossel in 1928.  Both clock movements and complete clocks were imported from Germany and sold through department and jewelry stores across Canada.  Their son Ed Stossel started working part time with his parents' company in the 1930s, and later became a full-time employee in the late 1940s.

Some assembly work was carried out in their Wellington Street East factory.  Initially, imported mantel clock and grandfather clock movements were installed in cases made in Kitchener, but later the complete mantel clocks were imported from Germany.  This arrangement was interrupted by the Second World War, which also led to a name change to the Forestville Clock Company in 1941. 

During the war years this company used clock movements from England, the United States, and even France.  The wood cases for their mantel clocks were ink-stamped Made in Canada.  However, starting in the mid 1950s German factories again became the source of most Forestville clocks, with Mauthe being a major supplier.

The Forestville Clock Company was very successful during the middle decades of the twentieth century.  Its grandfather clock cases and some of the wall clock cases were made in Canada.  Ed Stossel retired in 1979; unfortunately the company survived just a few more years without his leadership.

There are many thousands of these clocks in Canadian homes.  Look for wood-cased mantel clocks and porcelain wall/desk clocks with the script name Blackforest or Forestville on the dial.  Most Blackforest and Forestville wood mantel clocks still have their paper labels tacked inside the back door.

We wish to thank Ed Stossel for the provision of a detailed companies history and several old photographs and company catalogues.  He visited our museum a few years after we opened.