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The American Waltham Watch Company produced about 40 million high quality watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1950.
History In 1850, Roxbury, Massachusetts, David Davis, Edward Howard and Aaron Lufkin Dennison formed together the company that would later become the American Waltham Watch Company. The revolutionary business plan was to manufacture the movement parts so precisely that they would become fully interchangeable. Based upon the experience of earlier failed trials, Howard and Dennison would eventually perfect and patent their precision watch making machines and create the American System of Watch Manufacturing. 1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...
Roxbury is a neighborhood within Boston, Massachusetts. ...
Aaron Lufkin Dennison (March 6, 1812- January 9, 1895) was an American watchmaker born in Freeport, Maine. ...
Aaron Lufkin Dennison was inspired by the manufacturing techniques of the United States Armory at Springfield, Mass. ...
American Horologe Company In 1851, the company took the name "American Horologe Company" and production started in the new factory building. Late 1852, the first watches were complete. The first 17 watches, marked "The Warren Mfg Co" were distributed among company officials. Number 18 to 100 were named "Warren Boston" and the following 800 "Samuel Curtis". A few, marked "Fellows & Schell", sold for $40.
Boston Watch Company The company was renamed "Boston Watch Company" in September 1853. A new factory was built in Waltham, Massachusetts, on the banks of the Charles River, which grew over the years to its present size. In October 1854 the company moved into the new factory. The next movements manufactured (1001-5000) were marked "Dennison, Howard, & Davis", "P.S.Bartlett", and "C.T. Parker". Often called the true birthplace of the industrial revolution, Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. ...
The Charles River from the Boston side, facing Cambridge and the main campus of Harvard University. ...
1854 (MDCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Appleton Tracy & Co Upon bankruptcy, the company was sold at auction to Royal E. Robbins, who reorganised it under the new name "Appleton Tracy & Co" in May 1857. Bearing this name, the next movements produced, Waltham Model 1857, were numbered 5001 to 14,000. Also the "C.T. Parker" was introduced as 1857 model: 399 units were made. Also 598 chronometers were manufactured. January 1853 saw the introduction of the P.S. Bartlett watch. The Waltham Model 1857 is a 19th century watch movement. ...
American Waltham Watch Company The "Waltham Improvement Co." merged in January 1859 with the "Appleton, Tracy & Co." forming the American Waltham Watch Company (AWWCo). In 1860, as President Abraham Lincoln was elected, the country was in Civil War. Production ground to a halt. However, the company decided to downsize to the lowest possible level to keep the factory open. It worked: Upon his Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln became the proud owner of a Waltham watch: Model 1857, Grade Wm Ellery, serial number no 67613! Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was an American politician who served as the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and the first president from the Republican Party. ...
Selection from the Nicolay Copy of the Gettysburg Address, handwritten by Lincoln himself. ...
A serial number is a unique number that is one of a series assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value. ...
Waltham became the main supplier of Railroad chronometers to the various railroads in America and in as many as 52 other countries of the world. In 1876, Waltham disclosed the first automatic screw making machinery and obtained the first Gold Medal in a watch precision contest at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Not only the American Horology but also the world owes much to the early members of the Waltham Watch entity, such as Bacon, Church, Dennison, Fogg, H. Marsh, Webster and Woerd for their technical inventions and developments. Railroad chronometers (railroaders watches) were critical to the safe and correct operation of trains in the United States. ...
This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ...
1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official worlds fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. ...
Horology is the science and study of timekeeping devices. ...
Waltham International SA The American Waltham Watch Company went out of business in 1957, but had founded a subsidiary in Switzerland in 1954, Waltham International SA, which now produces Waltham Swiss made luxury watches. However, clocks continued to be made in the Waltham factory for a time under the name of Waltham Precision Instruments Company. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Waltham International SA was founded in 1954 in Lausanne, Switzerland, by the American Waltham Watch Company, Waltham, Mass, to provide the necessary watch and movement parts, which were not readily available in U.S.A. Now located in Marin-Epagnier/Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Waltham International SA manufacture Waltham luxury Swiss...
US Business The United States business of Waltham is now owned by MZ Berger and Company http://www.mzb.com
Serial Numbers Every watch movement was engraved with an individual serial number which can used to estimate the date of production. Volunteers have created a database of Waltham serial numbers, models and grades, and descriptions of observed watches. // Mechanical clockwork movement Assembly comprising all the main parts of a watch, also used in building many forms of apparatus such as mechanical or electrical counters, switching-devices, bells and, in general, all small portable appliances whose functions are dependent on the division of time. ...
A serial number is a unique number that is one of a series assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value. ...
References Complete Watch Guide, by Cooksey Shugart, Tom Engle, Richard E. Gilbert, Edition 1998, ISBN 1-57432-064-5
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