Keystone-howard And Their Standard Watches

Transcript

© 1999 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. THE RAILROADERS' CORNER A forum for the discussion of railroad pocket watches. by E. Ueberall & K. Singer Photos by E. Ueberall, except as noted Keystone-Howard and Their Standard Watches From its inception in 1903, until production ceased around 1930, the E. Howard Watch Company, referred to by collectors as Keystone-Howard, produced a number of watches suitable for use in railroad time service. These were priced higher than the average American railroad watch and were always considered a cut above average in quality. In this column we will describe the various watches, all in 16-size, that Howard marketed for railroad time service. Keep in mind that while the watch and jewelry industry called these "railroad watches," the employees under time service regulations, and the railroads for which they worked, referred to them as "standard watches." Howard and Keystone The E. Howard Watch and Clock Company of Boston had been long recognized as a manufacturer of high grade watches, marking them, "E. Howard & Company, Boston." However, by 1903 the company's watch business had stagnated. At that time, The Keystone Watch Case Co. purchased the rights to use the name "Howard" on watches'! "The E. Howard Watch and Clock Company became the E. Howard Clock Company. It completed all its work in progress and converted to making clocks."2 Waltham-Howards At first, Keystone-Howard, hereafter re ferred to simply as Howard, contracted watch production out to the American Waltham Watch Co. A number of 12 and 16-size watches of varying jewel counts, all pendant set, were furnished to Howard. Perhaps the best known of these were the 23-jewel movements. It is reported that the Waltham-made movements were finished by Howard, presumably in its New York Standard Watch Co. plant in New Jersey. However, this may just refer to dialing and casing since it is difficult to imagine the high quality of finish found on these watches being done at the Standard Watch Co. Since lever setting was not yet mandatory for standard watches during this period, some ofthe 16-size watches may have been accepted for service on some railroads although they're generally not considered to be standard watches. Details pertaining to these Waltham-made Howards are being researched for a ApriL 1999 NAWCC future article by Messrs. J. Treiman, E. Fuller, A. Leibold and C. Goetz. Photographs of some of these watches appear in the June 1998 BULLETIN, along with their request for additional information. 3 Keystone Obtains U.S. Watch Co. In 1901, the Philadelphia Watch Case Co. purchased the U.S. Watch Company at Waltham 4 The Keystone Watch Case Co. then merged with the Philadelphia Watch Case Co., and others in 1904,5 thus gaining ownership of the U.S. Watch Co. plant. By 1905 Keystone was producing the new line of 16-size Howard watches at that plant 6 Railroad Watches It is the railroad standard versions of the 16-size watches marked "E. Howard Watch Company, Boston, U.S.A.," made with 23, 21, 19 and 17 jewels, that are the subject of this column. Should the question arise, "Just which of the Howard watches are railroad standard versions?" we simply quote Howard's catalog, "All Howard Lever-Setting Watches are accepted and approved by the time inspectors ofleading railroads."7 The additions to this statement are the watches produced prior to about 1907. Up to that time, pendantsetting watches were still being accepted for time service. Models Despite variations involving safety barrels and going barrels, there are only two models designated by Howard. They are the 3/4-plate (1905) model and the New Bridge (1907) model. The 3/4-plate model was made with 17 jewels only and the New Bridge model, with its straight bridges, was available in 23 or 19 jewels. Howard referred to later versions of the bridge model, with curved or "hooked" bridges, simply as the "Bridge model." The 21 and 17-jewel bridge models seem to have been added at the time the transition was made to ''hooked'' bridges. There are unique alphabetical model designations which seem to have been originated by the C. & E. Marshall Co., a materials supplier of the early twenties. These appear in a reproduction of their 1921 parts catalog.8 However, there is no indication whatsoever that tbey were used by Howard. Insofar as they have been utilized in a number of publications to identify BULLETIN 191 © 1999 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Howard Railroad Watches M ORE than Nine Hundred Million passengers have occasion to travel on the American Railroads every year-which is the reason why "railroad time" is a matter of prime interest to the general public. And why so many HOWARD jewelers find it profitable to feature the fact that these Hi-size ji"·ve-position HOWARDS are Railroad Standard. l':ven if there is not an actual railroad mall in your community, tell your public about them. Show the Watches. Order HOWARDS from your jobbers. E. HOWARD W ATeH WORKS WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS ~ ~ "~ so " a..=~~:...:::: Figure 1. This ad promoting Howard's railroad watches appeared in the June 15, 1913, issue of the Keystone. In showing the 23, 21, 19 and 17J movements (clockwise from top center), it illustrates a number of marking varia· tions. The 23J Series 0 has script lettering on the center bridge, but lacks the series marking and the arrow sym· bal. The 21J Series 10 is marked the same. The 19J Series 5 has block lettering and the arrow, but lacks a series marking. The 17J watch is marked "Series 2," has block lettering and the arrow. 192 NAWCC BULLETIN April 1999 © 1999 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Table 1 Series and Model Designations of Howard Standard Watcbes Jewels Series Barrel C. &E. Marshall Bridges Model' 23 23 23 21 21 21 19 19 19 Safety Safety Going Safety Going Going Safety Safety Going Going Safety Going Straight Hooked Hooked Hooked Hooked Stamped Straight Hooked Hooked 3/4 Plate Hooked Hooked 17 17 17 • 0 0 0 I 10 II 5 5 5 9 2 2 BI B A D C E HI H F N M K The Howard Watch Based upon captions in the C & E. Marshall Co . 1921 pans catalog reproduced in American Pocket Watch Identification and Price Guide Book 2. except for models BI & HI These designations were not used by Keystone.Howard. he Ral lrolld • .,1 .~mcrin rep're. elll an iDVCIUftt:n1 vI fourtee n billion, of dolilin. rWD hund red . nd twc=nty. eight thoui:lnd mil" of rMd-and I ..,on ftc i2bl Ind pas~ en~er mUelIllc (I f hu ndred And lOMy·fivc bdlion mUti. T '''''Q AJ bod! ... all tw.. 11 1 _ .. Il140 '1"'1 ,1'1 . . .11,.....- " .. ........ -ulI'" "'. Arnn;u" railroad II,.,. Moll ..... ,.I.It .. ,... .." •• hl,...n Ht urri ••• Itt- ....., .lIIth !.liIt -'II T!.t aI_ .... 1'100'•• W ~tG " '-'ill" " ilroad. of A .... ri<1 b •• ~ offi<,~tty c.n;~ an • .-Io.lpm! II.. Hoor~ ~u. W ... h. The Howul> 'pee,.1 ~I .d-mnp ...d lu~ . 11 II'" hOEk _ ol "UI ... i,1I joIc ..d .,bll.ion. Elallnld up .... , I....... Fi ~;."cd admi' 1 n.h wucll.hral ~~ :"~d ':~::,:~I;~.!!i.~ ~t'!;:;..r~~ ~~dd. c;,7n~'l:;,:.~:,a .'~:.:~.."cI iD •'4· ,he movement variations,9 we find it convenient to also use them. Additionally, even though they're not r eally model designations, its useful to treat them as such. These designations are correlated to the movement variations in Table 1. No>' .. ~ry J_ ....... n •• 117o... ~~ ,:.":.n.=.l'.!.r.~; olwo _n.b buy.or. HOWARD W ... h. J!1Id Ih HOWAJI.D ,_""". I" :"!}!'::J'::':: :::-::·IiOW.uD _ .. "I..J_ to> E. HOWARD WATCH WORKS BOSTON. MASS. D' Ie Figure 2, above right. Howard watches were promoted directly to railroaders in ads such as this one from the May 1910 issue of the Railway Conductor. The ad notes that prices are fixed at the factory. Figure 3, below left. S / N 976,317 is a 23J Series O. Having straight bridge fingers and a safety barrel, it is referred to as a Model Bl. Note that the jewels are in settings. The S / N is located on the pillar plate near the balance rim. Figure 4, below right. 23J, Series 0 Model B's also have safety barrels. Their distinguishing feature is having "hooked" bridges, also referred to as curved, shown here on S / N 1,086,227. Note that the serial number is up on the barrel bridge. April 1999 NAWCC BULLETIN 193 © 1999 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Figure 5, above left. The final version of the 23J Series 0 is the model A, exemplified here by S / N 1,316,055. Note that it is marked "Series 0," and also note the block lettering and arrow symbol. Figure 7, above right. S / N 1,114,974, is a 21-jewel movement marked "Series 1" on the barrel bridge, to the right of the crown wheel. It has a safety barrel, indicating it is a model D. Series 0 There are three versions of the 23-jewel Series 0 movements, referred to as the Bl, the B and the A models. The Bl, a designation perhaps created by a later researcher, was the earliest model, the 1907 New Bridge model. It is distingnished by having straight bridge fingers , as can be seen in Figure 3. The B1 model has a jeweled barrel, referred to by Howard as a safety barrel. It is characterized by three small screws fastening the winding wheel to the barrel. The B version bridges, shown in Figure 4, are different from those on the Bl model. The jewels are set into what we refer to as "hooks" at the end of the bridge. The B model also has a safety barrel. The same bridge design of the B model is used on the A model. This model's identifYing characteristics are jeweled banking pins and a going barrel with only a single, large screw used to retain the winding wheel. The A model is shown in Figure 5. Series 1 & 10 There are two variants of the 21-jewel bridge models, one with a safety barrel and the other with a going barrel. A 1919 Howard materials catalog10 shows both Figure 6. Mail-order dealers occasionally offered Howard watches but at prices significantly aixlve those of similar grades from other manufacturers. This ad by Loftis Bros. & Co., a firm that advertised heavily in the railroad brotherhood journals, appeared in the June 14, 1914, issue of the Locomotive Fireman & Enginemen's Magazine. 194 NAWCC BULLETIN April 1999 © 1999 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Figure 8, above leff. The safety barrel on S IN 1,100,625 causes us to refer to it as a Series 1, although it is not marked as such. Howard's practice of referring to these unmarked 21-jewel watches as Series lOs causes a lot of confusion among collectors. However, all of this watch', characteristics match those of the marked Series Is. Figure 9, above right. The marking "Series 10" appears on SIN 1,238,873. As can be seen by its single winding wheel screw, it has a going barrel, making it a model C. the safety barrel and going barrel versions as Series 10. However, all the watches we've seen that are marked "Series 1" have safety barrels and the ones that are marked "Series 10" have going barrels. Since the 1921 C. & E. Marshall catalog was probably based upon the 1919 Howard catalog, it also refers to both the 21-jewel safety barrel and going barrel watches as Series 10. We feel it correct to call the safety barrel model D a Series 1 and call the going barrel model C a Series 10. All of these movements have "hooked" bridges. Unlike the 23 and 19-jewel watches, the authors are unaware of any of these 21-jewel series that have straight bridges. This is probably due to their later introduction date. Should any of our members let us know that they have such a watch, we'll report it. Figure 10. The railroad chronometer is offered in this ad on page 271 of the April 1922 issue of the Railroad Trainman. L. W. Sweet, Inc., was another heavy advertiser in the brotherhood journals. The Railroad Chronometer - Series 11 The railroad chronometer is a later, less expensive design than the other Howard 21-jewel standard watches. Although we haven't seen mention of the term "Series 11" in the text of any Howard ads or catalogs referring to the railroad chronometer, the accompanying cuts clearly show the Series 11 marking. To our knowledge, aU the watches themselves were always marked "Series 11" on the barrel bridge just like the other cuts and actual watches having a series marking, see Figure 11. The Series 11 movements are marked, "Pat'd '08." With one exception, discussed below, the stamped, skeletonized plat es of the railroad chronometer model are significantly different from all other Howard stanApril 1999 NAWCC BULLETIN G ... ' ... u~4 I. P." £"4"'11. .1I~gl''' '""errJa .. Send fll) mo ne,: It cntllel, ulisfic:d, P:lf i che price, SIS-Ihe btlance In 10 rnon(hs. S-6 .00 • rllont h l'rke 01 wll e ll. SiS, csnb· li "hcd 'I«OIY price:. The Howard \Vueh ii the: be$' .11 plilpO fU. It hu Zl c c:n u;nc len rllb,. I"ef UpphlJc kwc:h. 16-lOh:c: mo"clIlcnt .nd I.! dju$(ed 10 hl'!: po$ilions. temperature: and isochronism. Cued Ind IIIlIed at the helol,. FR£E-DcLulic C:aulor 0' Wuchu. DufI'IoO'"Ss Ind' Jewelr,. 98 p.a£ C"1 of wondu, •• l ,... Iues. il TOO" Y-I'" 'ot copy No, 192-J \",ilc 'or 195 © 1999 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Figure 11, above left_ The railroad chronometer, Series 11, has very plain stamped plates making it less expensive to produce than the earlier Howard standard watches_ A different style click was also applied. S / N 1,317,566 illustrates this. Figure 12, above right. There is a startling resemblance between the shape of the railroad chronometer's plates, Figure 11, and those used by Keystone's 12-size NY Standard watch shown here. dard watches. In fact, they're highly reminiscent of the plates of a 12-size New York Standard watch, as was pointed out by Arthur Borg in his article on Howard in 1967 11 An example of a New York Standard watch with similar plates is shown in Figure 12. Damascened plates were introduced in the second to last run of the Series 11, but the watches still had the typical Series 11 circular click shown in Figure 14. By the time that the last run was produced, a variation was created that used the same barrel bridge and straight click as the earlier Howard watches. This is the damascened version shown in Figure 15. R.R. Time Recorder - Non Magnetic The one other standard watch utilizing the plate design of the Series 11 is the 21-jewel, lever set watch Railroad ChrOn0I11eter-- Especially Designed f?r R!\iJroa.d l\!en. 21 Jewels ~ sct .AU runnmg extr;;, hard Ruingu:<;t l.c~·('r olil ('-~hap('d bearings. l'aHet.~tone.s, onl~' pIvots III impu L.;;c pin and cnd-st(lne.~orRllbigu~L IIO\VARD Bi-lIIettllli( halaneewlw("l. Figure 13. This excerpt from the 1926 Otto Young & Co. catalog advertises the railroad chronometer, the Series 11. """,,. Thm Apr-Br;n~ Ed&!" V, ...... Co\SE--Thp .d><)\ C ChrOLlOlll..,kr ii! It,d ill h(,~· ... t<>l\e E~lra Qualit.l- Open Fa('~ {'a~l' \1 ill! ~pL"(;ial features. The Pl'lIlianl i.~ .~]lUll on the c(>Jlt('r, He'n~' .~hK'k, IUlll! Lhread 011 the s('rcw, narrow hczd wilh hcad, whi('h giycs nlOrc hand rOOlll under the gl;l'<'<, nlls1 l'ro"f nut Pendant, :r-;o. ] J Slj 196 \~O m ""'"" r .nd n- ]01_1.. IUth .. . . . 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