The
19th century saw many changes in the watch. By 1830 the cylinder
escapement had almost completely replaced the verge escapement and
the use of the chronometer escapement gave watches a precision they
had not had before. The lever escapement established its supremacy in
this century.
Possibly
the most noticeable technical achievement was the advent of the
keyless watch. The difficulty encountered when attempting to
incorporate this feature into a watch with a fusee, heralded the
final demise on the Continent of the fusee, although many English
makers clung to the key wound verge watch until as late as the 1880s.
WHAT WATCH |
It
seems likely that the first watches made in America were the work of
Thomas Harland (1735-1807). An advertisement of 1773 declared that he
made 'horizontal, repeating and plain gold watches in gold, silver,
metal or covered cases', though whether he made these or simply
engraved his name on imported examples is now known. His obituary
states however that he made the first watch manufactured in America.
WHAT WATCH
After
his death, Luther Goddard (1762-1842) bought some watches from his
estate, as well as some tools and in 1809 began making watches at
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Many of the parts he bought from abroad
but some he cast in his workshop and had the cases engraved by a
local engraver. His first watches were marked 'L. Goddard'.
Two
other watchmakers of repute in the first half of the century in
America were the Pitkin brothers, Henry (1811-46) and James Flagg
(1812-70). By 1835 they had developed a watch which they hoped could
be manufactured commercially by standardizing the parts so that they
were interchangeable. Even so they had to import dials, hands,
hairsprings, mainsprings and jewels. The first 50 watches were
marked 'Henry Pitkin' while later pieces were marked H. & J. F.
Pitkin. The brothers were never successful at cheap mass production
for their watches were still more expensive than imported ones.
WHAT WATCH |
He
had little success with his first eight-day watch but by 1854 he had
produced over 1,000 thirty-six hour movements with the name 'Samuel
Curtis, Roxbury' engraved on the plates. Curtis had been one of
Dennison's early backers. Dennison's company at this time was called
the Boston Watch Company. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt in
1857 mainly due to a general recession. However they had set the
trend that was to be followed by the more successful companies
such as The American Waltham Watch Company and E. Howard and Company.
WHAT WATCH
WHAT WATCH |
WHAT WATCH
As the
century progressed, the emphasis changed, with cases becoming
plainer. The demand was now for a technically interesting watch that
was highly accurate, or for a simple inexpensive model with an
adequate degree of accuracy.
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