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70-765: Waltham may refer to: Business [ edit ] Waltham Watch Company , American watch manufacturer, pioneer in the industrialisation of the manufacturing of watch movements The Waltham system , industrial efficiency system Music [ edit ] Waltham (band) , American rock band Places [ edit ] Canada [ edit ] Waltham, Quebec England [ edit ] Bishop's Waltham , Hampshire Great Waltham , Essex Little Waltham , nearby London Borough of Waltham Forest including Walthamstow that includes Walthamstow Village Waltham, Kent Waltham, Lincolnshire New Waltham , nearby Waltham Abbey, Essex ,

140-416: A scale model . By around 1845, Dennison had decided to adopt the use of interchangeable parts , rather than crafting every watch by hand. In 1849, Dennison approached Edward Howard , partner in the company Howard & Davis, with his plan to manufacture watches. Howard agreed to the proposal and, with capital from Howard & Davis and Howard’s father-in-law Samuel Curtis, they started in 1850. Dennison

210-476: A 100-foot long brick building on land in Roxbury, Massachusetts already owned by partners Howard and Davis. Specialized machinery was designed and the flow of daily operations perfected. "The firm attracted an able staff well versed in the field of watchmaking and willing to experiment with new methods," one historian of the firm later observed. Both Swiss and American watchmakers were employed. Unfortunately,

280-452: A 6% commission. Four longtime members of the company's board of directors resigned and new directors appointed. Board member Augustus P. Loring became the effective leader of Waltham's majority shareholders in 1910. In an economizing measure a vice-presidential position was cut and executive pay generally reduced by the new board majority. A further effort was made to infuse new blood into Waltham's management corps in an effort to break up

350-443: A batch of clocks] at once and in other ways facilitate the work”. (Automatic watchmaking machinery was not developed until the 1860s and Dennison’s machine was probably a modification of an ordinary wheel cutting engine ). At age 21, Aaron declined the offer of a partnership with Cary and went to Boston , to work with the most skillful people he could find who were engaged in watch repairing. He worked for three months without pay at

420-478: A clock and scale maker from Boston. Howard initially wanted to build locomotives but instead went into business with Dennison making watches. Joining Dennison and Howard in establishment of the company were fellow Bostonians David P. Davis, experienced in manufacturing, and financial angel Samuel Curtis. Initial funding of $ 20,000 was raised and the American Horologe Company was born. The name

490-591: A colony of Swiss watchmakers engaged in various branches of the watch trade. Dennison then returned to Boston and set up a business selling watches, tools and materials and doing repair work. During this time he created the Dennison Combined Gauge for measuring mainsprings and other watch parts. In 1840, Aaron married Charlotte Ware Foster (1811–1901) of Massachusetts. They had five children: Charlotte Elizabeth (1842), Alice (1845), Edward Boardman (1847), Ethie Gilbert 1850 and Franklin (1854). During

560-529: A jeweler for three years as a youth and had come to Boston in 1833. In 1833 he became a journeyman watchmaker with the firm of Currier & Trott in Boston, leaving in 1839 to go into business for himself. Mass production of clocks had come on line during the first quarter of the 19th century in the United States, moving from a handicraft to a factory basis; the forward-thinking Dennison hoped to apply

630-428: A lower average wage rate. Dumaine also took aim at Waltham's pricing policy, which had previously varied with market conditions to achieve as high a price as possible. Waltham's products were consequently priced for between 15 and 25% more than equivalent products of rival companies when the new company regime took the helm in 1923. Still seeking the cachet of a top shelf price, Dumaine nevertheless immediately lowered

700-462: A mass market at a lower price-point. This change had come with significant risk, as Waltham had dominated the market for luxury pocket watches and faced a serious shortage of the designers and toolmakers needed to revamp and modernize its product line. There was even doubt whether American factory production could be adapted to take on the finely-detailed and well crafted product produced by the Swiss at

770-580: A massive $ 411,400 loss in 1946, ushering in a series of years in which the company generated red ink. A flood on the American market of inexpensive Swiss-produced timepieces was blamed for the company's dire economic straits. The company closed its factory doors and declared bankruptcy in 1949, a crisis was triggered when the final $ 2 million installment of a promised $ 6 million loan by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation

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840-412: A mid-sized family-owned sawmill for a decade, Simonds threw himself into learning the watch business, visiting every part of the plant and working three months behind a retail counter to learn about consumer preferences and expectations. Fighting for freedom of action against entrenched interest groups, including bankers, stockholders, managers, and workers, Simonds sought to instill discipline, speed up

910-420: A model of the first watch to be made. However, the watch (which ran eight days and had a single mainspring barrel) did not keep time accurately enough to be used and the machinery was a failure. (Regarding the machinery, Dennison later admitted he had no ability as a machinist. ) In addition, Dennison could not gild the plates successfully. In 1852, Charles Moseley, a skilled machinist, and N. P. Stratton joined

980-422: A new underwriter and Simonds' brief tenure drew to a close. Waltham was reorganized in 1923 by a syndicate headed by the investment firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co. Kidder, Peabody drove a hard bargain, forcing through a two-tiered financial overhaul in which large investors able to contribute new money for the purchase of preferred stock were able to convert old common stock for newly issued common stock at

1050-595: A privileged and lethargic executive bureaucracy, although this change was met with only limited success. The company attempted to diversify its output. Seeing a great demand in Europe as a result of the outbreak of World War I , Waltham introduced production of mechanized time fuses to control the burst of artillery shells in 1915, as well as automobile speedometers in 1916 and blood pressure gauges in 1917. Wholesale sales were taken in-house rather than being contracted out. Waltham found itself pouring time and effort into

1120-620: A railroad station in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States Waltham railway station (England) , a former station in Waltham, Lincolnshire, England Waltham Cross railway station , in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, England Waltham-on-the-Wolds railway station , a former station in Waltham on the Wolds, Leicestershire, England Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

1190-654: A series of bankruptcies and restarts under new ownership, with watches and clocks bearing the Waltham name still being made and marketed today. Prior to 1850, watches in America were generally supplied either from England or Switzerland. The idea for the Waltham Watch Company came from watchmaker Aaron Lufkin Dennison . Dennison was the son of a shoemaker, born in Maine in 1812. He served as an apprentice to

1260-496: A village in Berkshire New Zealand [ edit ] Waltham, New Zealand United States [ edit ] Waltham, Maine Waltham, Massachusetts , home of Bentley University and Brandeis University Waltham, Minnesota Waltham, Vermont Waltham Township, Minnesota Transportation [ edit ] Waltham (automobile) , a defunct automobile manufacturer Waltham station ,

1330-646: A watch precision contest at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition . In 1885 the company name changed to the American Waltham Watch Company (AWWCo). Waltham's profitability was greatly impacted by the Panic of 1907 , which brought a rapid fall of sales and earnings. This downturn not only did not abate but actually accelerated in 1908 and 1909, leading the sons of Royal Robbins to liquidate their holdings in

1400-839: The Anglo-American Watch Company in Birmingham , which was to use stock and machinery from the Melrose company. In 1874 the name was changed to the English Watch Manufacturing Company and it appears that Dennison left the company about this time. In about 1862, Aaron Dennison started a business making watch cases in Birmingham and supplied the London office of the Waltham Watch Company. In 1879, Alfred Wigley joined Aaron to form

1470-435: The 1830s, Aaron Dennison assisted his younger brother Eliphalet Whorf Dennison to set up in business. Together they set up a jewelry store, but it was a failure. Then silk farming was considered. The third venture instigated by Aaron was to manufacture paper boxes for the jewelry business. This business was a success, but Aaron withdrew from it because of his increasing interest in the possibility of manufacturing watches. Under

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1540-468: The Finishing department put down tools on August 11, 1924, over news of a forthcoming 10% wage cut. The spirit of militance spread and the next day, slated to be the first of the new wage scale, fully 200 workers from the Finishing and Setting-Up departments stayed home. Within three days the entire Waltham plant was embroiled in a company-wide work stoppage, the first in the more than 70-year history of

1610-514: The Massachusetts State Board of Conciliation, after a lengthy fact-finding process, proposed a 5% wage cut as justified for all workers earning more than $ 18 a week. This proposal satisfied no one, with Waltham management politely refusing to move off their proposal for a general reduction of 10% and strikers holding a mass meeting which lent no support to the board's report. The company was able to maintain operations through

1680-499: The Waltham facility until 1862, the initial phase of the Waltham Watch Company had come to an end. New owner Royal Robbins was an experienced New York watch importer who worked a partnership with his brother Henry Asher Robbins and Daniel F. Appleton in an effort to make the Waltham Watch operation a success. All three members of this troika had extensive experience in the watch sales and the jewelry trade. Administration of

1750-400: The Waltham plant. As August ended the two sides remained deadlocked over the wage scale. More mobile workers began to leave the city, going to Elgin, Illinois or Lancaster, Pennsylvania to seek employment with Waltham's chief domestic competitors. In September a union proposal accepting wage reductions for men making more than $ 40 a week or women making more than $ 20 — thereby exempting

1820-426: The cobbler’s shop until the age of 18. While there, he suggested the making of shoes in batches rather than one by one. In 1830, at the age of 18, Aaron was apprenticed to a Brunswick clockmaker, James Cary . During his apprenticeship , he is said to have made an automatic machine for cutting clock wheels, however in his autobiography he merely says he wanted “to cut all the wheels of a corresponding size in each [of

1890-399: The company as quietly as possible, with the brothers selling nearly all of the Waltham stock which they had inherited from their father. Stockholders became aggrieved by the company's flagging fortunes and voted to terminate an existing sales relationship with the company Robbins & Appleton, an independently owned wholesale arm which contracted to dispose of the entire output of Waltham on

1960-469: The company was measured and prudent and the economic crisis of 1857 was survived. With the coming of the American Civil War in 1861, the demand for watches expanded markedly, with soldiers in particular eager to obtain a reasonably-priced timepiece for their personal use. To meet this demand, Waltham Watch unveiled a comparatively inexpensive $ 13 model called the "William Ellery." This watch

2030-489: The company's first offering, an innovative model which ran for eight days without winding, was a commercial failure, being too expensive to make economically, with about 19 pieces produced. A second, more conventional model with a 36-hour power reserve was put into production and met with success in the marketplace. In 1853 the name of the company was changed to the Boston Watch Company. The Roxbury factory

2100-412: The company's inefficient planning and billing bureaucracy. In the words of one study of the company's business management practices: Most importantly, Dumaine changed the company's course from the production of the elegantly-crafted pocket watches for which it was known — a form increasingly out of favor with post-war consumers — towards the manufacture of smaller and fresher wristwatches designed for

2170-559: The company's performance in 1950, in which a loss of $ 430,000 was declared. This trend continued in 1952, with sales of $ 2.3 million generating a profit of nearly $ 73,000 during the first six months of that year. Not coincidentally, these were years of the Korean War , marked by expanded American military spending, which included both contracts for precision timing devices and wristwatches for soldiers. The reorganized Waltham relaunched watch manufacturing, with some 700 people employed by

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2240-420: The company's reorganization plan. "An examination of the balance sheet satisfies me that with careful management the company will be able to function safely and satisfactorily," Judge Sweeney noted. Sweeney's assessment proved correct, with the Waltham Watch Company squeaking out a profit of $ 11,728 in 1951 — the first financially positive year since the end of World War II. This compared most positively with

2310-625: The company, with an additional $ 20,000 raised by selling exclusive selling rights to Waltham watches to a large wholesale jeweler in New York City. This effort was insufficient and at the end of February 1857 the Waltham Improvement Company foreclosed on the mortgage it held for the Waltham factory. Assets were distributed in a sheriff's auction, with the Waltham property purchased by Royal E. Robbins for $ 56,000. Although founder Dennison remained as superintendent of

2380-601: The company. As part of the strike, former department-level worker organization within Waltham was abandoned and a new organization called the Watchmakers Protective Association established. Affiliation of this new company-wide union with the American Federation of Labor was anticipated. Plant superintendent I.E. Boucher refused to meet with organized workers in connection with the strike, only individuals, further exacerbating

2450-534: The company. While the machinery was rebuilt, Stratton designed a 30-hour watch and went to England to learn how to gild correctly. After this was done, watches were manufactured and sold. In 1854, the company moved to a new factory in Waltham, Massachusetts , and took the name of the Boston Watch Company . Aaron Dennison was the factory superintendent. Watches were manufactured there until the company

2520-402: The compromise proposal marked a turning point in the strike, as strikers became more aggressive towards strikebreakers who crossed their picket lines, hurling abuse and stones and waving yellow handkerchiefs at the defectors. Vacations were canceled for the Waltham police force and police presence was increased in the aftermath of the threatened violence. The strike continued into October, when

2590-491: The conflict. Moreover, Boucher declared that striking workers would be no longer considered employees of Waltham and that each must individually apply for reemployment through the company's employment office. On the third day, other departments shut down over the company's unilateral wage cut, with 2,000 of Waltham's 2,900 total employees hitting the street over the reduction. A parade estimated at 2,000 people, including some workers with 50 years of company service, marked through

2660-774: The consulting engineers indicating that 4,000 people were currently employed to do the work that 2,000 efficiently used workers were capable of achieving. Unsold inventory ballooned to $ 11 million, while the company racked up $ 8 million in debt, while being forced to pay dividends on a substantial quantity of stock. With the coming of price deflation in 1921, banks tightened their credit policies. Lending banks came to realize that Waltham's loans were not adequately covered by current assets. Information about Waltham's inefficient model of organization also undermined lender confidence. Waltham's external financiers worried that shutting off credit entirely might force Waltham into liquidation and default upon their original loans. A period of negotiation

2730-510: The factory at the time of its inception, with total output of 30 watches per week. The economics of production on this scale proved untenable. To cover the deficit in watch company operations in 1856 $ 6,000 in notes guaranteed by the Waltham Improvement Company were issued. The situation further deteriorated with the coming of an economic crisis in the third quarter of 1856. As the economy stalled, Waltham's watch sales plummeted. The partners contributed their personal savings in an effort to save

2800-685: The finishing, regulation, and shipping of these partially-completed timepieces. This partial restart for completion and sale of partially completed inventory proved successful, enabling the company's trustees to repay $ 2 million — half of the $ 4 million borrowed in the fall of 1949 — to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Another $ 250,000 was repaid toward the company's indebtedness by the first of May 1951. In addition, company trustees managed to negotiate several contracts for defense work with prospects for more, leading federal bankruptcy judge George C. Sweeney to approve

2870-534: The firm as of January 1, 1952, and 800 by that summer. In an effort to better balance supply and demand, the company terminated direct sales to stores on that date, returning to the pre-war policy of sales to authorized wholesalers. The challenges of the marketplace remained, however, with low cost watches from Switzerland flooding the market. Aaron Lufkin Dennison Aaron Lufkin Dennison (March 6, 1812 – January 9, 1895)

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2940-494: The form of partially completed timepieces, a substantial part of which could not be readily disposed of except as scrap. Foremen had kept their departments running at full capacity regardless of actual demand for the components produced, resulting in gluts of jewels , lubricating oil, steel, and brass, while other components remained in short supply. Some items were overproduced to such great extent that available stocks were projected to last for 20 years or more. Moreover, Waltham

3010-442: The jewelers Currier & Trott and then stayed another five months on wages. In 1834, he started his own business as a watch repairer, but after two years he gave it up and obtained a position with Jones, Low & Ball and he worked there until 1839 under master watchmaker Tubal Howe . Here he learned the methods used by English and Swiss watchmakers. In 1839, Dennison moved to New York City, where he spent several months with

3080-595: The larger parts (such as barrel plates) and assembling would be done in America. So Dennison went to Zurich, Switzerland, where he organized the manufacture and delivery of parts to Tremont. In 1866, without the support of Aaron who was not consulted, the directors decided to move the factory to Melrose and make complete watches there, and Dennison withdrew from the company. The Melrose Watch Company failed in 1870. In February 1871, Aaron moved from Zurich to England where he assembled some watches using parts left over from Zurich and plates from Tremont. He then helped organise

3150-434: The lowest paid workers from the cutback. Company acceptance was expected and a celebratory was held on Saturday, September 27. When news came of the company's rejection of the compromise proposal, in favor of a counteroffer of a general 7.5% wage cut, the party turned into a riot, with a mob of thousands storming the company's gates. Police intervention broke up the melee in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The rejection of

3220-603: The name of Tracy Baker & Company . Aaron Dennison remained in Waltham as the superintendent of the mechanical department. In 1861 Robbins dismissed him for neglecting his duties and meddling with other departments. In 1864, Aaron Dennison and A. O. Bigelow set up the Tremont Watch Company in Boston. The idea was that fine parts (such as escapements and wheel trains) would be made in Switzerland (where journeyman wages were lower than American wages), and

3290-510: The new regime in February 1923. The former "gargantuan collection of small workshops" was integrated, and production steered towards more marketable products. Company debt was paid down. This restructuring proved profitable, and the price of Waltham stock subsequently advanced impressively, easing the company's credit burden. The restructured company of 1923 began its run on the precipice of disaster. A fairly vast part of unsold inventory took

3360-480: The plant left idle. Dumaine's efforts at rationalization of Waltham began with a reduction of executive salaries, which had topped $ 100,000 a year for top level executives in the previous period. Private secretaries were eliminated and a smaller secretarial office pool established instead. No general reduction of salaries was attempted for office and factory workers but total payroll was nonetheless reduced through layoffs and reorganization, with an eye to streamlining

3430-524: The production process, and lay off superfluous workers, cutting payroll by 1,000. He believed that unsold inventory was severely overvalued on the company's books, leading to a write-down assets by $ 3 million and a dumping unsold inventory on the market. Cutting benefits and speeding up production norms, Simonds managed to reduce the production cost by 25% and to eliminate $ 800,000 of the company's debt by January 1923. This proved insufficient for troubled lenders, however, and in February 1923 creditors had found

3500-463: The rate of 10 shares for 9. These monied investors were also able to convert their old interest-bearing preferred stock to new at the rate of 10 shares for 8. Small investors unable to contribute new money were treated far less favorably, however, being forced to accept an exchange of old stock for new at the rate of 10 shares for 2.5 — thereby losing 75% of their equity in one fell swoop. Financial institutions and large investors thus saw their stake in

3570-462: The reorganized firm protected, while small investors absorbed the brunt of the inevitable write-down of company value. Kidder-Peabody benefited handsomely as underwriter of securities and investor in preferred stock, realizing nearly $ 2.5 million in profit, dividends, and capital gain from the sale of stock over the 1923–28 period. A charismatic new chief executive came in as part of the restructuring, Frederic Dumaine , who arrived at Waltham to lead

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3640-579: The same principles and techniques to the making of pocket watches. This would not be his first venture, however. In 1844 Dennison started the firm that would later emerge as the Dennison Manufacturing Company , a paper box business. He found this enterprise distracted him from his dream of industrial production of watches and turned the company over to brother Eliphalet Dennison in 1849 so that he could turn his full attention to horology . In 1849, Dennison approached Edward Howard,

3710-420: The selling prices of the company's products to a point just 5% higher than the comparable goods of its domestic competitors. This proved to be a first step to true parity with the prices of the company's main American competitors, Elgin and Hamilton. The company turned to a general wage cut of 10 to 40% to bolster profitability in 1924. This, unsurprisingly, proved unpopular with Waltham workers, 75 of whom in

3780-523: The short term, Waltham prospered through its emphasis on military contracts, with sales nearly doubling between 1915 and 1918 and earnings soaring by 156%. However the easy money of military contracts papered over what one historian has characterized as an era of "wanton extravagance, gross inefficiency, and a marked lack of business foresight." With the end of the war came the Depression of 1920–1921 , drying up military and consumer sales alike. Waltham

3850-487: The streets of Waltham to a rally held at the city park. The only department which remained in operation after the third day was the Machine department, whose employees were members of a separate AF of L-affiliated union and who were awaiting approval of their national organization to join the work stoppage. Packing clerks and stenographers joined the strike in sympathy during the second week, effectively halting operations of

3920-541: The supervision of Eliphalet Dennison, the company developed into the Dennison Manufacturing Company , which existed until 1990 when it merged and became the Avery Dennison Corporation with headquarters in Pasadena, California . About 1840, while Dennison was repairing watches, he began to wonder about manufacturing watches. After several years of thought, he conceived a plan to do so, even making

3990-716: The task of developing and improving a timing device which could absorb the shock of being fired from heavy artillery and its ability to design and manufacture conventional timepieces consequently suffered. By 1917 the American economy was booming, demand for watches was high, but Waltham was operating at full capacity, with the United States War Department calling for increased production of artillery fuses. Other American watchmakers were content limiting themselves to production of ordinary chronometers; with no experience making artillery fuses, contracts and production fell overwhelming upon Waltham's shoulders. In

4060-518: The title Waltham . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waltham&oldid=1050835084 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Waltham Watch Company The company went through

4130-572: The town taking its name from Waltham Abbey (abbey) Waltham Bury , Essex Waltham Chase , Hampshire Waltham Cross , Hertfordshire Waltham Holy Cross Urban District , a former urban district in Essex Waltham (hundred) , a former hundred in Essex Waltham on the Wolds , Leicestershire Waltham transmitting station , nearby Waltham St Lawrence , a small village in Berkshire White Waltham ,

4200-489: The use of strikebreakers, primarily new hires and the strike continued through the end of 1924. During World War II Waltham was an important contractor for the American military, producing timepieces for service personnel and timing devices for military ordinance, such as bombs and torpedoes, with the company's Waltham, Massachusetts factory wholly converted to military production. The post-war years were not kind to Waltham, however. A $ 211,200 net profit in 1945 flipped into

4270-586: Was a "fad" among Union soldiers and sales blossomed. By the end of the Civil War the Ellery represented fully 45 percent of Waltham's annual sales. After the Civil War, the company became the main supplier of railroad chronometers to various railroads in North America and other countries. In 1876, the company showed off the first automatic screw making machinery and was awarded the first gold medal in

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4340-421: Was a bloated behemoth, divided into watertight departments operated with a minimal eye to coordination and cooperation. A panel of consultants employed by management were shocked to discover 25 rival departments within the company, with "each foreman operating his department as though it were a plant in itself," determining its own production and hiring its own personnel. The company was massively overstaffed, with

4410-496: Was an American watchmaker and businessman who founded a number of companies. Dennison was born in Freeport, Maine , after which the family moved to Brunswick, Maine . He was the son of Andrew Dennison, a boot and shoemaker who was also a music teacher. As a child, Aaron earned pocket money by carrying a builder’s hod, working as a herdsman, and as a clerk to a businessman. Later he cut and sold wood and then worked for his father in

4480-481: Was begun, in which lenders successfully demanded that Waltham's management be brought under their own direct control. Regarding Waltham's management as incompetent, the First National Bank of Boston and other creditors took effective control of the company late in 1921, selecting one of their own directors, Gifford K. Simonds of Fitchburg, Massachusetts as new chief executive officer . The manager of

4550-525: Was denied by the lender. Waltham's historic Massachusetts facility was shuttered on February 3, 1950, putting 1,200 workers out of a job. Through the aid of bankruptcy court, in September 1950 a trustee was named to oversee the limited restart of the Waltham facility to complete the manufacture of 242,000 watches for the Christmas selling season. About 250 employees were brought back to the factory for

4620-474: Was forced into bankruptcy at the beginning of 1857. After the bankruptcy, the company was effectively split into two parts. Most of the machinery and watches, together with some skilled workers , were taken back to Roxbury by Edward Howard, who established the Howard Watch Company . The buildings and large machinery were sold at auction to Royal E. Robbins who restarted watch manufacture under

4690-486: Was quickly changed to Warren Manufacturing Dennison, paid $ 1,200 a year to head the project, was sent to Great Britain by his partners to learn trade secrets and purchase supplies for the American effort. Dennison observed that the watch industry in England was not highly mechanized and believed the new American firm by he and his partners could make an impact in the watch industry. The company began with construction of

4760-575: Was slow to adapt to the desires of a changing marketplace, with postwar consumers demanding an overwhelming proportion of small wristwatches, for which Waltham lacked stylistic prowess or physical machinery. The company remained geared towards the production of high-grade pocket watches. Competition had made itself felt, with rivals Elgin and Hamilton increasing their capitalization and modernizing their plant, while imports from Switzerland increased nearly 500% between 1913 and 1920. Economic recovery in 1922 had left Waltham behind, with fully two-thirds of

4830-449: Was soon deemed to be too small for efficient mass production. Dennison sought a rural locale for the new facility and the town of Waltham, Massachusetts was chosen. Local residents contributed funds for land and improvements through a development company established by Dennison, the Waltham Improvement Company. One hundred acres of land were purchased and a building constructed, with operations commencing in 1854. There were 90 workers at

4900-495: Was the only person with knowledge of watchmaking. A new building was erected adjacent to the Howard & Davis factory in Roxbury, Massachusetts , for the firm Dennison, Howard & Davis . Dennison went to England to buy parts which could not be manufactured in America, to hire journeymen watchmakers to make the watches, and to learn the art of gilding brass watch plates. On his return, he designed and built machinery and made

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