Historic Ybor clock was believed to be magical. Now it’s a Lego set.

Jun 22, 2023

TAMPA — Attention master builders: This new Lego structure wasn’t created by Lord Business and requires no Kragle.

The J.C. Newman Cigar Co. has developed a set that re-creates their Ybor City factory with the fabled magical clock.

And yes, said the company’s fourth-generation owner and general counsel Drew Newman, it’s awesome because, as “The Lego Movie” teaches, everything is awesome when it comes to the bricks.

The set is not affiliated with the Lego company. It was designed by Brooklyn, New York-based Common Bond Design’s Tampa office, Newman said, and assembled and packaged by Indiana’s Brick Loot, which makes “custom sets using real LEGO bricks for Netflix, Penske, Domino’s and other businesses.”

It can be purchased for $100 at the Newman’s factory at 2701 N 16th St. and through their website at jcnewman.com.

“We’re always looking for new opportunities to honor, celebrate and keep alive the tradition of cigar making in Tampa,” Newman said. “This is a unique way to tell the story of our 113-year-old factory known as El Reloj,” which means “the clock.” “The set is available locally, but we will also send it to cigar lounges and retailers all around the world.”

Each set includes 201 Lego bricks that make the factory’s west facade and famous clock tower. The back side reveals the factory’s clock movement on the first floor and bales of tobacco in the basement.

Built in 1910 by the Regensburg Cigar Co., the three-story, 97,000-square-foot brick factory was hailed by newspapers as “Tampa’s great cigar factory” due to its size and clock tower that could be seen and heard for miles.

Back then, some residents believed that if they walked outside at 9:15 a.m., their wishes would come true if made while looking at El Reloj and extending their arms to mimic the position of the clock’s hands.

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. was established in Cleveland in 1889 and relocated to the Tampa factory in 1954 at a time when the city was cigar capital of the world.

Of the estimated 150 cigar factories that once called Tampa home, Newman’s is the last that is still being used to roll tobacco.

“It’s amazing how people don’t know the story of Cigar City, as we are known,” Newman said. “Hopefully this will educate a lot of people.”

For Newman, this is also a full-circle moment.

“I grew up in the family business,” he said. “As a kid, I would sit on the floor of my dad’s office and play with my box of Legos.”

His father, Eric Newman, the company’s third-generation owner and president, was unavailable to comment on how many times he stepped on those Legos.