Pocket Watches · Pocket watch, "william ellery" model
Pocket Watch, "William Ellery" Model by American Watch Company
- Maker / attribution
- American Watch Company (manufacturer)
- Date
- 1876
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Place
- Waltham
- Object type
- Pocket watch, "william ellery" model
- Materials / technique
- 18-karat gold, steel, iron, brass, gold-plated brass, hair, carnelian, and ruby
- Dimensions
- Watch: 3 1/8 × 2 1/4 × 3/4 in. (7.94 × 5.72 × 1.91 cm) Fob chain: 13 3/4 in. (35 cm)
- Holding institution
- Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
- Accession / object no.
- 2011.182.1
- Credit line
- Gift of Blaine Butler, B.A. 1956, Mus.B. 1958, Mus.M. 1959, in memory of Loomis Havemeyer, B.S. 1910S
- Catalogue title (original)
- Pocket Watch, "William Ellery" Model (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (object number 2011.182.1), this is a pocket watch, "william ellery" model by American Watch Company, made in Waltham, United States, dated 1876. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: 18-karat gold, steel, iron, brass, gold-plated brass, hair, carnelian, and ruby. Recorded dimensions: Watch: 3 1/8 × 2 1/4 × 3/4 in. (7.94 × 5.72 × 1.91 cm) Fob chain: 13 3/4 in. (35 cm). The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Published references — Yale University Art Gallery
"Acquisitions," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin: Online Supplement (accessed December 21, 2012), 22, ill.
Inscriptions & marks
"American Watch Co." on watch face. "[square with crown] / 18k" and "7107" incuse on interior of front cover. "7207" incuse on interior of back cover. "7107" incuse on inside of works cover. "Wm. ELLERY / 962061 / Foggs patent [script] / WALTHAM, MASS." engraved on the works.
Provenance
Loomis Havemeyer (1886-1971), Hartford, then New Haven, Conn.; transferred to the estate of Loomis Havemeyer/Blaine Butler (1934-2015), New Haven, Conn., then Rochester, Ver., 1971; (on loan to Paul Porter, Jr. [1921-2012], New York, then Houston, Tex., ca. 1974-2010); given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2011
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Verge escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
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