Chapter 3

[23] U. S. patent 65208, issued May 28, 1867, all rights assigned to Giles, Wales and Co., March 4, 1867 and recorded March 8, 1867, at U. S. Patent Office, liber G9, p. 100.

[24] In the U. S. National Museum, cat. no. 309021.

[25] U. S. patent 179746, issued July 11, 1876.

[26] _Boston directory_, 1865 through 1872.

[27] M. F. Sweitser, _King's handbook of Newton, Massachusetts_, Boston, Mass., 1889, p. 203.

[28] Smith, _op. cit._ (footnote 22), p. 20.

[29] The sources used were Crossman, _op. cit._ (footnote 8), December 1887; Henry G. Abbot, _Watch factories of America_, Chicago, 1888, pp. 93-95; _Newton directory_ for 1875, 1877, 1879, 1881, 1883, 1884-85, and 1885; _Waltham-Watertown directory_ for 1877-78, 1880, 1882, 1884; and William B. Fowle, "Cash book" (see footnote 14).

[30] U. S. patents 161513, applied for November 13, 1873, issued March 30, 1875; 165830, applied for July 14, 1875, issued July 20, 1875; 165831, applied for June 9, 1875, issued July 20, 1875; 179019, applied for May 25, 1876, issued June 20, 1876; and 186838, applied for January 12, 1876, issued January 30, 1877. A French patent was issued to Hopkins on September 12, 1876, and a Belgian patent on September 30, 1876. For lack of records neither has been positively identified but presumably they are for the same device covered in U. S. patent 179019.

[31] No. 46 courtesy of the late C. A. Ilbert (this watch is now in the Science Museum, South Kensington, London); 124, 176, 224, 241 in the author's collection; 161 Abbot, _op cit._ (footnote 29); 250 Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan; 361 F. Earl Hackett; 387 Dr. Alfred G. Cossidente; 403 Dr. W. B. Stephens; 423 Crossman, _op cit._ (footnote 8); and an unnumbered movement illustrated in _American Jeweler_, December 1898, vol. 17, no. 12, p. 371.

[32] In the author's collection.

[33] Crossman, _op. cit._ (footnote 8), December 1887, p. 400.

[34] Crossman, _op. cit._ (footnote 8), January 1888, p. 33.

[35] Crossman, _op. cit._ (footnote 8), January 1888, pp. 400-401; Abbot, _op. cit._ (footnote 29).

[36] U. S. patent 204400.

[37] U. S. National Museum cat. no. 248691.

[38] U. S. patent 204400. The text of this patent speaks of dividing the second into "halves, quarters, eighths, etc." and in the summation of claims of "an escape wheel, _A_, provided with one or more pairs of pins..." showing that measuring tenths of a second with a five-pin escape wheel was not conceived at this time. It is interesting to note that in referring to the drawings shown in figure 12 the text states "In the present instance two pairs of pins are used to denote quarter seconds." Only one pair of pins is shown, which is correct. This seems, however, to reflect carelessness on the part of patent attorneys and examiners, as the error exists in the original manuscript patent application preserved in the National Archives, Washington, D. C.

[39] U. S. patent 216917, issued to William A. Wales and assigned to William B. Fowle, was applied for on November 1, 1878, after the device was already in use on earlier specimens of these watches.

[40] The mechanism was also covered by British patent 3893, issued September 27, 1879, to Philip Syng Justice on behalf of William B. Fowle.

Success and Failure

It would be pleasant to report that after the fiasco of the rotary model these timers were a financial success, but the facts indicate otherwise. They were well built and reliable, so that the trade was pleased to stock and promote them. The public responded well when in the market for a timer, as might be expected, since no other stop watch with fractional second dial or split-second hand was made in the country. Those imported from abroad were many times as expensive. Unfortunately the demand was seasonal. Sometimes, during the racing season, demand would reach 400 per month, while at other seasons of the year practically none at all were sold. Some remained in stock during the remaining life of the company, as is shown by the following advertisement,[41] which was accompanied by an illustration of the watch:

The old reliable Auburndale Chronograph Timers, for sale by Edward H. Brown, No. 16 Maiden Lane, New York. The manufacture of these watches having been discontinued for reasons entirely apart from their value and reliability, the stock in existence is very limited, and is now in the hands of Mr. Edward H. Brown, No. 16 Maiden Lane, New York City, the well known and reliable dealer in Watches, Diamonds and Jewelry. The Auburndale timer has been in the hands of a number of competent judges, and has always been found to be accurate. It is of convenient size, and is contained in a German silver case, nickel plated. The timers are manufactured in two qualities, without split seconds for $15 and with the split second for $25. They all have minute, second and lightning hands. We recommend all desiring a cheap and reliable timer to apply at once to Mr. Brown, No. 16 Maiden Lane, New York.

A steadier market was sought with the introduction of a low priced 3/4-plate, back-setting, 18-size watch to compete, it was hoped, with the full-plate watches of similar price made by the established companies. Nearly all these watches had seven jewels, some few had more. The majority were key wind and set with a folding winding key permanently attached to the barrel arbor, as in figure 21. These were named "Lincoln" for Mr. Fowle's son, Lincoln A. Fowle,[42] and had a solid steel balance with screws and the general appearance of a compensated balance. A stem-wound, lever-set edition of the same basic watch was named "Bentley" for Bentley D. Fowle, another son.[43] This had a cut bimetallic balance and higher finish. Conventional gilt finish was used on both of these models, although one isolated specimen found in factory remainders[44] has a bright nickel finish comparable with the rotary watch. These watches were designed by Chauncey Hartwell,[45] after J. H. Gerry had removed to Lancaster, where the Lancaster Watch Co., organized in August 1877, was attempting to bring a line of watches onto the market although beset by acute financial woes similar to those building up at Auburndale. To return to our 3/4-plate watches, it may be said that they were well made for the price, reliable, and successful from a manufacturing point of view but could not be sold at a figure high enough to return a profit on the manufacture.

Up to this time, about November 1, 1879, the Auburndale Watch Co., had existed as a private company; now it was incorporated with a book value of $500,000, and William B. Fowle, who at this point had invested about $250,000 (mostly unrecoverable) in the enterprise, was elected president, and George H. Bourne was elected secretary and treasurer.

After a quantity of these Lincoln and Bentley watches had been manufactured[46] and it had become clear that they could not be attractively priced to the trade, the company sought a product adapted to their factory equipment for which a constant market could be found. The product chosen was a line of metallic thermometers.[47] Two patents, 240058 and 240059, were issued to William A. Wales, assignor to the Auburndale Watch Co., of Weston, Massachusetts, on April 12, 1881. Whether these patents represent the first thermometers made at Auburndale or reflect the result of experience gained in making conventional models is not clear. The earliest evidence dating the appearance of the thermometer is the 1881 _Boston directory_ which appeared on July 1. This illustrates the same model of thermometer seen in figure 22. The patents cover means of eliminating springs of any sort from the mechanism, so that the hand or dial pointer is entirely under the influence of the fused bimetallic thermal strips. Manufacture of the timers was carried along with thermometer manufacture at first, but production of the timer was finally dropped, as the stock on hand was constantly increasing, and for a while the factory was at last operated at a profit, on thermometers alone. These were furnished in cases from 20 inches in diameter down to the size of a ten cent piece, according to the advertising.

Unfortunately Mr. Fowle had suffered so much loss through the watch venture and from other investments that he was forced to make an assignment of his personal estate. The watch company, without his support, was carrying too large a burden of debt to be self-supporting. In the fall of 1883 a voluntary assignment was made and the equipment was sold in February 1884.[48] The _Newton directory_ of 1885 lists W. B. Fowle as a thermometer manufacturer on Woodbine Street, "house near." His home, "Tanglewood," was on Woodbine Street and perhaps the thermometer business was operating in one of the outbuildings. William A. Wales assigned to the Auburndale Watch Co. patent 276101, of December 4, 1883, covering details of a unit counter for keeping score in games, and for similar work. Among the relics in the author's collection is a box bearing the label "Auburndale Counter, W. B. Fowle & Son, Auburndale, Mass." These counters were packed two in a box, the box just mentioned being suitable to contain counters the size of the thermometer in figure 22. Figure 23 shows a larger counter measuring 4-1/2 inches in diameter. From this and the fact that Fowle as late as 1887, is carried in the _Newton directory_ as a manufacturer of metallic thermometers, it seems that some attempt was made after dissolution of the watch company to carry on manufacturing, or perhaps only the assembly on a small scale of parts previously manufactured. The _Directory_ of 1889 lists Fowle as an accountant on Ash Street, Auburndale. He had bought this property in 1887, presumably after disposing of "Tanglewood" which now would be too large for his needs. In the editions of 1891 and 1893 he is listed as United States collector of internal revenue, with an office at the Post Office building, Boston. In 1895 he appears as an accountant at the same address and from then to his death in 1902 he is listed as an accountant at his home address in Auburndale.

Jason R. Hopkins, inventor of the first Auburndale product, passed away in Washington late the same year, 1902, having spent all the intervening years as a watchmaker.

[41] _The Jewelers Circular and Horological Review_, July 1884.

[42] _Newton directory_, 1884-85; Crossman, _op. cit._ (footnote 8), December 1887.

[43] Records of Veterans Administration, pension application WE 666 675 of Mary E. Fowle (widow of William B. Fowle).

[44] Serial 926, in author's collection.

[45] _Newton directory_, 1879.

[46] Each model of watch made at Auburndale was numbered in its own series, starting at number 1, contrary to the usual watch factory practice where blocks of serial numbers are assigned to different models. Other Auburndale products seem not to have borne serial numbers.

[47] Crossman, _op. cit._ (footnote 8), December 1887.

[48] _Ibid._

The Lesson

The life of a pioneer has always been arduous. The story we have just reviewed illustrates this. Hopkins was a successful workman with clever and novel ideas. Fowle had been very successful in an entirely unrelated field. Wales had been very successful in importing and selling watches but the watch factory which he had owned in part had failed, the fault more probably that of the times than of the man. The various superintendents and foremen were first-class men with ample background in making conventional watches. At the time no one could have had experience in manufacturing exactly the grade and type of watch being attempted, for this was the pioneer effort.

The country was in the grip of a long, lingering depression following the Civil War. Money was tight. The Auburndale Rotary was conceived as a very low priced watch which would at the same time include the desirable and unusual feature of close timekeeping. Could these ideals have been adhered to, there is little reason to question that it would have found a market, even in hard times.

We have seen that every effort to improve the original watch added to its cost, and here lies the real reason why it failed to win acceptance. By the time it reached the market it was no longer priced below conventional watches and at least some specimens were not reliable in performance. To make matters even worse, the best features of Hopkins' rotary watch had been incorporated by Locke and Merritt into a competing rotary watch much better engineered for cheap mass production.

At this point the only hope for the factory seemed to be the manufacture of some other watch or similar small mechanism. The Auburndale timer, with the exception perhaps of the split-second model, was a triumph mechanically and it returned a profit, but not enough to meet the financial needs of its sponsors. Much the same may be said of all the later Auburndale products.

The rotary had been of doubtful value when Flowe bought it, and the new organization was not able to contribute the necessary manufacturing engineering to make it a successful product. By the time this necessity was recognized, debts had mounted to the point where later products, which might have been successful on their own, were not able to carry the burden. The whole affair can be viewed as a very expensive educational adventure from which the students were not able to salvage enough to put their education to any use.

Surely they received a clear illustration of how dangerous it can be to engage in an enterprise without sufficient background or a long and careful study of design, manufacturing processes, costs, and market and sales analysis. For although numerous fortunes have been made in watch manufacturing, many more have been lost, and often those who put every effort at their command into such ventures came away with only sad experience as their reward. Thus ended the story of the Auburndale Watch Company.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Auburndale Watch Company, by Edwin A. Battison