Quality of Waltham watches

[RON in PA]

In my readings on American pocket watches I get the impression that Waltham was the beginning of the industry as far as technical innovation, large scale watch production and also the industry's father as many of Waltham's personnel stated-up or contributed to other companies. Sometime after the passing of the founders and the take over by a new generation of ownership the company was supossed to have entered a period of deterioration that lasted to its demise in the 1950s. First 50 years a leader and the last 50 a downward spiral.

Would any of you Waltham experts care to comment? For instance were Walthams of a certain era better than another? Why did Elgin take over as production leader?

[RON in PA]

In my readings on American pocket watches I get the impression that Waltham was the beginning of the industry as far as technical innovation, large scale watch production and also the industry's father as many of Waltham's personnel stated-up or contributed to other companies. Sometime after the passing of the founders and the take over by a new generation of ownership the company was supossed to have entered a period of deterioration that lasted to its demise in the 1950s. First 50 years a leader and the last 50 a downward spiral.

Would any of you Waltham experts care to comment? For instance were Walthams of a certain era better than another? Why did Elgin take over as production leader?

[HenryB]

From what I understand, from 1900-1950, in general the entire Pocketwatch industry deteriorated in favor of the wrist watch Industrys after World War I, due to consumer trends.

I am speculating that this caused the revenue to dry up, except for the Railroad approved watches.

No revenue, you have to cut costs to survive.

[RON in PA]

Certainly the wristwatch took over after the Great War, but companies like Waltham, Elgin and Hamilton (these come to mind) went full steam into wristwatches.

I would like to restrict this thread to the history of Waltham and not generalize to the American watch industry.

[Jon Hanson]

YOU MAY ALSO CHECK OUT SOME OF THE BOOKS FROM THE NAWCC LIBRARY--BEST TO BEGIN WITH MIGHT BE "TIMING A CENTURY" BY CHAS W MOORE!

[Glyn Meredith]

HenryB writes: "No revenue, you have to cut costs to survive."

I can see your point, but these days it sounds a little different: "No revenue, you have to keep in touch with what the customer wants, to survive."

And a good thing that is. Nowadays, marketing has become almost an exact science, and any company that does not realize that is likely to lose market share.

[Jerry Treiman]

To give you an idea of when Waltham began their decline, chapter VI of Charles Moore's "Timing a Century" is titled "The Decay of Management, 1910-1921". You really should read this to see the combination of factors involved, but the following sentence provides a harsh judgement - "The administration of the Company from 1910 to 1921 is a story of wanton extravagance, gross inefficiency, and a marked lack of business foresight." Although they were still capable of making some very fine watches into the 20s and later, one sees more and more that attention to detail in finish was often sacrificed, even on some of their flagship grades such as the Maximus and Vanguard.

[RON in PA]

Thanks Jerry, that's the kind of info I was looking for. And also thanks Jon, as you were the first to mention Moore's book.