[Brand Introduction] Waltham

About Waltham

Waltham is a watch manufacturer representing the United States.

The history of the American watch industry dates back to around 1850, but the American watch industry, which started late in Britain, France, and Switzerland, quickly overtook those countries around the end of the 19th century.
Waltham was a company that created the "American style" of mass production by automating the parts manufacturing process, and played an important role in the development of the watch industry not only in the United States but also in the world.

The company name has been changed several times along the way, but here we use the representative name WALTHAM.

beginning

Waltham's history begins with Boston watchmaker Aaron Lufkin Dennison.
He was known as the "Madman of Boston" for his unconventional behavior and passion for watches.
After training as a watchmaker from the age of 18, he ventured into his own business.

Denison had the idea of ​​reducing repair costs by mass-producing watches by using replaceable parts instead of making all watches by hand.
We proposed this idea to "Edward Howard", a watchmaker and partner of Howord & Davis, a Boston-based measuring instrument manufacturer, and received funding to start commercialization.

"Howard, Davis & Dennison", the predecessor of Waltham, was established in September 1850, and while changing the company name several times, a factory was built in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1854.
Based on Dennison's idea, he started by creating a machine tool that produced uniform parts from the beginning, and Denison, Howard and others created a new watch manufacturing system through trial and error.

However, in the beginning, the production machinery was not stable and the investment was piled up.
Taking this opportunity, Edward Howard, who is also the founder, left the company and brought back skilled workers and production machines to establish the "Howard Watch Company".
This was the beginning of E.Haword, America's leading luxury watch manufacturer.

The company's buildings and large machinery were sold to Royal E. Robbins, who established "Tracy, Baker & Co." to resume watch production.
Dennison remained with the company as director of the mechanical department, but was dismissed in 1861 due to a conflict with Robbins.
After that, Denison was involved in the establishment of several watch makers, and the watch case maker launched in Birmingham, England, "Denison Watch Case Company" was a great success and continued as a luxury watch case maker until 1967. .

Aaron Lufkin Dennison (1812-1895)

Edward Howard (1813-1904)

Development of the American Watch Industry

Even after the two founders left, due to the influence of the Civil War, etc., the management changed and merged several times, and it became "Appleton Tracy & Company (ATCo)" and "The American Watch Company (Waltham, Mass.)". We are changing the name.
During that time, the company steadily improved its technical capabilities through successes such as low-priced watches for soldiers and the expansion of American railroads, and became a major supplier of accurate chronometers for railroad business called "Railway Clocks". It became
Waltham watches have been worn by American presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan.

In 1876, he won his first gold medal in a contest at the World's Fair in Philadelphia.
Longines' technical manager "Jacques David" who came to inspect there was shocked by Waltham's technical ability and is promoting the "American style" production method of mechanized integrated manufacturing in Switzerland.

"American Waltham Watch Company (AWWCo)" in 1885, "Waltham Watch Co. (WWCo)" in 1907, "Waltham Watch and Clock Company" in 1923, "Waltham Watch Company (WWC)" in 1925 While changing the name of the company, it manufactured watches for people of various levels, from low-priced watches to high-end watches, practical watches to highly decorative watches for women, and succeeded as the largest watch manufacturer in the United States. I will collect it.

decline

During World War II, Waltham willingly became a military factory and mainly produced military watches such as "TYPE A-11" and "TYPE A-17".
However, the post-war business transformation did not go well and the company went bankrupt in 1949.

In 1958, it withdrew from the consumer watch business and was split up.
While receiving several acquisitions, it moved its headquarters to Switzerland, and in 1981 after the quartz shock, it was under the umbrella of Heiwado Trading in Japan, but that Heiwado Trading also went bankrupt in October 2016.

summary

Waltham is the flag-bearer of the American watch industry that has pushed the American watch industry, which was considerably behind Europe, to the top of the world in just 30 years since its foundation.
The American-style production method of "integrated production of high-precision watches by assembling high-quality parts produced by dedicated machines by skilled workers" had a great influence not only on the United States but also on Swiss watchmakers such as Longines.

Only a few brand names remain today due to the rough seas of the times, but the glory of the past will never disappear.