About the Waltham Watch Company
The Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch Co. and the American Watch Co., produced about 40 million watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses, and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1957. The idea for the Waltham Watch Company came from watchmaker Aaron Lufkin Dennison who studied under Tubal Hone, considered the best watchmaker in America at the time.
The company changed names a number of times. In 1854, known as The Boston Watch Company, the firm moved to Waltham, Massachusetts. This is when the company became known as the Waltham Improvement Company, as investors needed to use this name to purchase the land and buildings in Waltham to manufacture the watches. In 1854, the manufactory produced five watches per day and employed 90 people, and was the first factory in the world to produce a pocket ready watch in the same factory. The 1937 Ford sedans had Waltham speedometers, reputedly the only speedometer in a Ford to display the name of its manufacturers. A tester at the time was quoted as saying that accuracy had to be “plus or minus 10 MPH”.
The company closed its factory doors and declared bankruptcy in 1949, although the factory briefly reopened a few times, primarily to finish and case existing watch inventory for sale. They finally went under for good in 1981 due to the quartz crisis.
Servicing and Guarantee
This timepiece has been serviced with full disassembly in our Bristol workshop. There is a 12-month guarantee, subject to the usage and care guidelines.
Overview
Case
- Stainless steel case
- Matching stainless winding crown
- 19mm new stock genuine leather strap
Dimensions:
- Width w/o crown: 36mm
- Width w/ crown: 37.4mm
- Thickness: 9.7mm
- Height: 42.6mm
- Strap: 19mm
Dial and Hands
- Black glossy dial
- Applied silver indices
- Matching silver hands
- Waltham printed text
- Outlined date window
Movement
- AS 1802/02
Testing Results
- Testing duration: 1 week.
- Average timekeeping range: 15-30 sec/day.
Servicing and Guarantee
- Fully serviced with disassembly in our Bristol shop.
- Mechanics in full working order.
- 12-month warranty.
- Guarantee Terms and Conditions.
