How many mornings, as you fumble bleary-eyed for the snooze button, have you cursed the invention of the alarm clock? Though it was dreamed up long ago, you can attribute the ubiquity of that bleating pest to the Industrial Revolution, which placed new emphasis on prompt punch-ins. With demand for an efficient, affordable alarm clock rising in the early 20th century, a group of French engineers rushed in to meet the need. They called their company “Jaz” and introduced their first model, le Classic, in 1921. A huge success, they went on to produce the equally-popular le Replic, and soon the company had cornered the French utilitarian clock market.

The company continued to prosper until World War II, when materials became scarce and workers were drafted. When the Nazis assumed control of France, they took issue with the word “Jaz,” which according to them smacked of American decadence. Fearing the forced closure of their factories, Jaz bosses protested that the name referred to an unassuming bird called the “Jaseur Boréal,” and had nothing to do with that irritating American cacophony. To backup their claim, in 1942, Jaz began stamping their clocks with the figure of a little bird above the name, which they would continue to do until 1975.

Our info here was largely found on Sushi’s excellent clock blog.