Welcome to the home page for Pocket Horology
Chapter 174
Pocket Horology is a national chapter of the NAWCC dedicated to
collaborative research on the history and horology of pocket watches. All pocket watch
enthusiasts are cordially invited to join the over 100 current members of NAWCC
Chapter 174, Pocket Horology.
Recent Research Projects by Chapter members Are Noted
Below
The research works appearing herein are
copyrighted by the authors whose names appear there. This information is
granted to visitors for their personal use only and comment. Any other
reproduction, by any means - mechanical or electronic - without the
express written permission of the author(s) is strictly prohibited.
Although the authors have taken considerable steps to authenticate
references and submitted data, no responsibility is taken for the accuracy
of this information. User must accept it "as is" and use discretion. |
An Early Experimental E. Howard & Company Watch
Contemporary watch collectors who might have begun to despair that any new
horological gems are still out there waiting to be discovered can take heart
from an intriguing, extraordinarily well preserved E. Howard & Company watch,
with movement S/N 3208, that recently was discovered by Mr. Chris Abell.
[click here for article
by Clint Geller]
Who Made These James Russell & Co., Hartford Conn, Watches
There are a number of James Russell watches that appear to be custom/private
label American Watch Co. Model 57s, Circa 1860s. Although each movement has
something inconsistent with a M57, everything else looks correct. Indeed, they
look like some watchmaker made the movements from M57 parts. However, the parts
don't measure up.
[click here for article
on Ron Price's web site]
Howard Factory Customers:
This research by Chapter 174 members Harold Visser and Clint Geller is a
compilation of the known customers of the watchmaking firm of E. Howard &
Company.
[click here
for Microsoft Word doc file]
E. Howard & Co. Watch Movement Production Figures:
This research by Chapter 174 members Harold Visser and Clint Geller, to be
published in Research Activites and News in the NAWCC BULLETIN, grew out of work
presented by Clint Geller at the 2002 NAWCC Seminar in Boxborough, last October.
Clint, and fellow Chapter 174 member Harold Visser, have been working
assiduously with copies of the original E. Howard & Co. factory records to
assemble a comprehensive and easily digestible picture of Howard watch
production. They have been assisted in this effort by long-time Chapter 174
member and Smithsonian volunteer Bob Rolfe. The factory records are terse,
incomplete and not infrequently enigmatic. Through a painstaking process of
cross-correlation with movement data and visual images compiled by collectors
over the past half century, he and Harold have been able to enhance greatly our
understanding of these records and the information they contain. A major part of
this effort, an expansion of Dr. Geller's 2002 seminar presentation, will appear
next year as part of an NAWCC special publication. Certain key tables from this
article, which were presented last October, will appear shortly on this website.
Other unrelated data extracted from the records, such as a comprehensive listing
of production purchasers, complete with dates and serial numbers of first and
last purchases, will appear shortly as well.
[click here for web page
article] [here
for Microsoft Word 6 doc file]
E. Howard & Co. Watch Grades and Rayed Movements:
This original research on E. Howard & Co. watch grades and Rayed keywind
movement production was first presented at the 2002 NAWCC seminar in Boxborough
MA. It is excerpted from Clint Geller's artilce entitled: "The Development of
the E. Howard & Company Three-Quarter Plate Watch Movement: 1862-1875," to
appear next year as part of an NAWCC special publication.
[click here for web page article]
[here for Microsoft Word 6 doc file]
Origins of the Waltham Model 57:
This research works by member Ron Price describes the Evolution Of The First
Successful Industrialized Watch, starting with the Boston Watch Company in
1850 through 1878 when the The American Watch Company stopped producing their
so-called Model 57 pocket watch; Ron also documents in great detail the
Design Changes in the Model 57 throughout its 25 year life cycle. Abstract
of the complete monograph was presented at the NAWCC 2002 Seminar. It has been
submitted to NAWCC for publication perhaps in 2004.
Draft monograph available on Ron's web site.
Regarding railroad watches per the following article,
member James Winter thought we might find the referenced web page at the
Central
Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum of interest.
Jerry Treiman - Waltham's Assorted Specials
[click
here for web page article]
Clint Geller - "Reed" Serial # 4
[click here
for web page article]
Harold Visser - E. Howard & Co. Adjusters
[click here for web page
article]
New Articles
We are please to publish our first article
designed for on-line reading. Kent Singer has responded to the popular question "What
is a Railroad Watch?" with this informative piece.
Dr.Heilman's slides from the Orlando meeting have been scanned and a few of the
watches have been collected together in set of web pages for your enjoyment.
More watches will be added as time permits, so please check back when you can.
Jack
Goldberg's Presentation on the Gruen Watch Co. is now available on-line.
Please view and enjoy Jack's presentation on the company that defined prestige
and image based advertising and also built some very fine watches.
Members Wanted
If you are not currently an NAWCC Member, you can join the NAWCC
through their website.
This web site is supported by Chapter 174 members dues. If you
enjoy using it, please consider joining our
chapter and participating in our programs.
Take a look at What's New in our web.
We welcome images and new entries into the "Great American Watches"
section of the site. Please share your thoughts and your treasures with your
colleagues.
Photo of a Hamilton 950B movement.

Movement #S1747, circa 1944
Photo By Louis Christina
Send comments on this web site to webmaster@pockethorology.org
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