THROWBACK THURSDAY: First Mickey Mouse Watch Sold

mickey watch
The first Mickey Mouse watch marketed

{excerpted from Mark “The Watch Doctor” Siriani’s blog}

On August 3, 1933, the first Mickey Mouse watch went on sale, priced at $2.75. It was one of the first pieces of merchandise tied to a movie, and certainly one of the best known in history.

While the Disney Company of today may be a merchandising machine, it was not always this way.   The early days of the Disney brothers’ company saw them often strapped for cash, prompting Walt Disney to first sell merchandising rights of Mickey Mouse to a man he me in a

Walt Disney, left, and Herman “Kay” Kamen

hotel lobby who wanted to sell writing tablets featuring the famous mouse ”Disney earned $300 cash from this first deal.   A few years later, Disney was contacted by Herman Kay  Kamen, a natural salesman with an extensive background in marketing and merchandising for animated figures.   After wooing the Disney brothers with his knowledge of branding and merchandising, the Disneys awarded Kamen’s promotional firm the licensing rights to all Disney merchandising ”which it held for two decades and used to earn millions of dollars for the Disneys.

Click here to read more about the first Mickey Mouse watch.