Howard Watch

[Hugh Patton]

:cool: Based on the serial number you provided. Your watch dates between 1900-1908. I would think it is closer to 1906 to 1907. Hope this helps. Hugh

[Kent]

Julia:

I'm not sure what kind of information you're looking for, or how much you already know. So, if the following seems off point, I'm sorry, I'm doing the best that I can.

The following information is mostly based upon "The Howard Ten Size Watch," Arthur N. Borg, NAWCC Bulletin No. 129 (August 1967): pp.941-64.

The Keystone Watch Case Co. purchased the rights to use the Howard name on watches sometime around 1903 and, at first, had watches built under the E. Howard name by the American Waltham Watch Co., which Keystone-Howard then marketed. The watches were labeled "E. Howard Watch Co."

Its said that Keystone "finished" these watches at the New York Standard Watch Co., a firm, based in New Jersey, already owned by Keystone. However, it may be that the "finishing" may have simply meant mounting a dial and placing the movement in a case. The reason for the quotation marks is that the term "finish" in the watch industry usually refers to the process of turning a set of raw movement parts into a smoothly functioning movement, as well as adding whatever decorating that was to be done. The overall quality of watches produced by Standard was well below the high grade watches that Keystone-Howard offered and the New York Standard plant may not have had the necessary capability of such fine work.

Back in 1901, the Philadelphia Watch Case Co. had purchased the U.S. Watch Co. at Waltham, see:
<span class="ev_code_brown">elginwatches.org/scans/non_elgin_articles/m_1901_philadelpha_buys_US_watch_co.html</span>
<span class="ev_code_blue">To view, go to the </span><span class="ev_code_brown">Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page</span> <span class="ev_code_blue">at</span> <span class="ev_code_brown">elginwatches.com</span>, <span class="ev_code_blue">then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on </span>'Go'.
In 1904, Keystone, Philadelphia and a number of other watch case companies merged, continuing under the Keystone name. Thus, Keystone acquired a watch factory in Massachusetts in 1904 and used it to begin making their "E. Howard Watch Co." brand of watch in 1905. Keystone-Howard stopped manufacturing watches around 1930, a victim of the Depression. The rights to the Howard name for use on watches was then sold to Hamilton.

The grades of many Keystone-Howard movements are identified by their series numbers. Later 16-size movements were marked with the series numbers, but not the earlier ones. This fact has caused a great deal of confusion in identifying the series of unmarked movements, especially the 21-jewel series 1 and 10, and the 17-jewel series 2, 3, 4 and 9. Selman (Sandy) Berger discusses the subject in great detail in his article "Some Aspects Regarding the Significance and Evolution of Model Number Designations for Keystone Howard Watches," NAWCC Bulletin, June 2001, pages 305-309. Essentially, the only indication of the movement series numbers in Keystone-Howard catalogs is in the complete watch catalog number. The catalog numbers are two, three or four digits. The two rightmost digits of a catalog number identify case material and style and the remaining digit(s) to the left are the series number. In the instances of two digit catalog numbers, the movement is the 23-jewel series 0. As an example, watch catalog No. 13 (written that way in lieu of No. 013 - the zero is understood) is a 23-jewel, series 0 movement in a 18 K, solid gold, extra heavy, engine-turned hunting-case. Similarly, catalog No. 413 is a 17-jewel, series 4 movement in the same case.

16-Size, 17-Jewel, 3/4-Plate Series Numbers & Descriptions

Series 2 - Light, parallel bar damaskeening, Adjusted to Temperature, Isochronism and Five Positions, Double Roller, Hunting-Case and Open-Face, Pendant Setting Only.

Series 3 - Circular damaskeening, Adjusted to Temperature, Isochronism and Three Positions, Single Roller, Hunting-Case and Open-Face, Pendant Setting Only.

Series 4 - Checkerboard damaskeening, Adjusted to Temperature, Isochronism and Five Positions, Double Roller, Hunting-Case and Open-Face, Hunting-Case are Pendant Setting Only, Open-Face are Pendant or Lever Setting.

Series 9 - Checkerboard damaskeening, Adjusted to Temperature, Isochronism and Three Positions, Double Roller, Hunting-Case and Open-Face, Pendant Setting Only.

Note, the series 9 seems to have been created around 1910-1911, just about the time that the 16-size, 17-jewel bridge model series 2 entered production and the three-quarter plate series 2 and series 4 were discontinued.

Pictures and some catalog information on Keystone-Howard watches can be viewed at the excellent E. Howard Watch Co. (http://www.awco.org/EHowardWatch/index.htm) website. Additional pictures and more information can be viewed at Howard Pocket Watches 1858-1930 (http://www.oldwatch.com/howard.html). Its believed that all Keystone-Howard watches were furnished in Howard-signed gold, or gold-filled Keystone or Crescent (a Keystone company) cases.

There is evidence that the serial numbers of Keystone-Howard watches were not always assigned in chronological order. Thus, serial number vs. date tables that are based upon dividing the overall range of serial numbers by the total years the watches were in production just don't apply. This means that determining the date of a movement is very difficult beyond a few key dates. The fact that Hugh's estimated date is four or five years prior to the 1911 patent date on the license (and in fact, prior to the introduction of the series 9) indicates that he probably obtained his estimate from such a table. The series 9 was still being cataloged in 1918 and posibbly well into the 1920s (I don't have any Keystone-Howard catalogs beyond 1918).

Hope this helped,

[Jerry Treiman]

Julia - unfortunately as far as dating these watches there is still much research to be done. Your watch is what is referred to as a Keystone-Howard. The various serial number/date lists for Keystone-Howard are notoriously unreliable. Unlike some of the larger companies, there are no production records that have survived from this incarnation of the Howard Watch Co.

The original E.Howard Watch & Clock Company stopped regular production of watches around 1902 (although some movements continued to be finished for several years), and in 1903 the rights to the Howard name, for watches, was purchased by the Keystone Company, a conglomerate of watch case companies and movement manufacturers. For the first few years the Waltham Watch Company made watch movements for the Keystone-owned E. Howard Watch Co., but in 1905 Keystone began to make their own movements.

Therefore, any Keystone-Howards (like yours) would have to be from 1905 or later. The fact that the original paperwork refers to a 1911 patent indicates it must be even later still. The company changed its name to E.Howard Watch Works around 1910 (although the watches were still marked E.Howard Watch Co.), also corroborating the later date for your watch. With a number in the nine-hundred-thousands I would expect it is from within a few years of 1911.

[I see that Kent was typing at the same time I was, but a little quicker - I hope our posts are not too redundant]

[Hugh Patton]

Hi Kent,
You are correct I took the info from the table I found here and "The Complete Price Guide" to base my thought but with what I just read I don't think either source is correct. More of a novice way to date such a complex watch history. You have enlightened me to the complex problem in locking down a date with these. Do the types of dials shed any light to the subject ( metal vs ceramic ) ?
Hugh :eek:

[Kent]

Hugh:

Dial designs in the form of lettering styles and colors may yield better date indication than whether it is enamel or metal. For example, some earlier dials have a blue five minute track and blue seconds numbers. However, I'm not sure that the dates of the design changes are known any closer than the movement serial numbers. Besides, there's always the question of whether or not the dial has swithced.