Waltham

Waltham wrist watches are a "staple" within the vintage market due to a couple of factors. First, the supply is relatively abundant. The company's production of wrist watches between 1914 and 1955 (when the company was dissolved and the remaining inventory sold) is estimated at around 14 million pieces. This is certainly less than the estimated 33 million pieces produced by Elgin (America's most prolific wrist watch maker), but is vastly greater than the production of Hamilton and Illinois.

Second, their classic and often conservative styling makes them a favorite among collectors looking for the "traditional" look in a wrist watch. It's perhaps ironic that this is one factor that contributed to the company's demise. While other makers were keeping (and sometimes setting) the pace in design with radically deco and "retro modern" cases during the 1930s and '40s, Waltham more or less stuck with the tried-and-true squares, rectangular, and tonneau cases with few flourishes or adornments. While these watches are popular today, Waltham was considered by no means a trend-setter in its day.

Started in 1849

Waltham was on the brink of bankruptcy numerous times, and had it not been for one Civil War and two World Wars, it is doubtful the company would have survived as long as it did.

What was eventually referred to as the Waltham Watch Company did not actually have that name until 1923. From 1885 through 1922, it was called the American Waltham Watch Co. It is under this name that you will find "Waltham" in the Shugart/Gilbert watch identification guides. It is somewhat confusing, especially to the beginner.

The company had several different names before "American Waltham," but to trace the company's roots, we must go back to 1849. It is that year when Aaron L. Dennison joined with Edward Howard, Samuel Curtis, and David Davis, and set up a small shop in Roxbury, Mass., that eventually was to become Waltham.

It is Dennison who is credited with being the father of the American watch industry, for it was he who pioneered the idea of making watches with interchangeable parts and movements. He got the idea by studying the firearms industry, which at the time was moving to a system of interchangeable parts. Therefore, Waltham is really the first American watch company. Certainly there were other watchmakers who preceded Dennison, and yes they did form companies which produced small quantities of watches before Waltham did. But Waltham was the first to turn out watches in quantity, using an interchangeable system and more or less an assembly line process.

Other names: 1850, "The American Horologe Company"; 1851-'52(?): "The Warren Manufacturing Company"; 1853: "Boston Watch Company"; 1857: "Appleton, Tracy & Company"; 1858-'59, "American Watch Company".

During the Civil War (1860-1865), the company produced 160,000 watches, mostly for the war effort, and became a true giant of its day. The company continued to flourish through Reconstruction as America more and more became a nation dependent on the accurate telling of time. Numerous additions were added to the Waltham, Mass., factory, and a building housing corporate headquarters and gold-case-works factory was built in New York City in 1871. In 1885, the company's name changed to the American Waltham Watch Co.

Like many watch producers, Waltham entered with wrist watch market as the result of World War I. From 1915 to 1918, the company produced 2.5 million watches, about 625,000 per year.

The company did not really embrace wrist watches until about 1930, when the ratio of wrist to pocket watches was three to one. The company did as well as could be expected through the Great Depression, turning out almost 4 million timepieces by the time America entered the second World War. It seemed poised for greatness, but the company's leadership at the time appeared to have a separate agenda. Top management (many of whom were top stockholders) took fat profits, while at the same time cut wages, allowed equipment to age, and neglected to build a much-needed new plant.

By this time, America had entered WWII, and Waltham once again found itself the recipient of fat government contracts. The second World War provided the backdrop for Waltham's final hurrah. And glorious it was. The factory employed one of every five workers in Waltham, Mass., during those years, producing watches, aircraft clocks, speedometers, and fuses.

But the company just couldn't bounce back to civilian production. with its antiquated equipment and aging plant. Waltham sputtered through several financial reorganizations after the war. In 1948, the firm laid off 2,300 workers. It went into receivership in 1949, reorganized, and was bankrupt again in 1950. Five years later, a final "fire sale" was consummated, and the remaining inventory sold. Today, the name is owned by M.Z. Berger, which also owns the rights to the following brand names: Elgin, Hugo Max, Gruen, and Wilson Sports.

The watches

Some of the more collectible Waltham specimens include the following:

1. The Waltham Masonic wrist watch. triangular bezel joined to a large circle, which houses the band at the top end of the watch. The 12 hour markers are all signs of the Mason's ritual. The crown is situated at one corner of the triangle, at approximately the 4:00 position. Yellow plated bezel with steel back. It is quite rare and has tremendous appeal, not only with watch collectors, but Masons as well.

2. Enameled bezel specimens. Notably, Waltham produced a mirror image of the Hamilton "Piping Rock." It nearly matches the Rock in value, but is certainly more scarce as the Rock had a long production run.

3. WWI military pieces.

4. Jump hour watches.

Bruce Shawkey