Aaron Dennison’s Orphan Watches

The Legacy of the Tremont

Watch Co. in Great Britain

Dennison’s Early Years in

Watchmaking

• Dennison, Howard and Davis partnership formed to produce a machine made watch with interchangeable parts.

• The final iteration of this partnership was the Boston Watch Co. which failed in 1857.

• After several stormy years working for R. E. Robbins, Dennison was fired but eventually received a settlement. He also retained his Waltham stock holding of $10,000 purchased in 1859 by mortgaging his furniture.

• He cashed his Waltham stock in for $62,500 at the time of the Tremont launch to fund his participation in the venture. In retrospect he might have been better advised to just keep the stock and retire.

Tremont Watch Co. 1864 - 1869

• Dennison was selling American iron processing machinery to

manufacturers in Birmingham when he was approached by the

prominent Boston jeweler Bigelow and others about starting up a

new watch company

• Dennison accepted and persuaded them to invest in a scheme he

devised to rapidly bootstrap a watch manufacturing company.

– Escapements, trains and other high skill items would be made in Switzerland

using American production tooling and less expensive Swiss labor.

– Plates, barrels and other components would be made in Boston where

watches would be assembled and cased.

• The other investors were willing but not necessarily enthusiastic

about the Swiss agency which was located in Zurich.

Tremont Products

• The Tremont watch was a 15 jewel full plate watch with a distinctive wide balance cock similar to products being produced in England (Coventry and Birmingham) at that time.

• The watch had a chronometer balance and full jeweling to compete with Waltham’s Appleton Tracy 1857 model and the new Elgin B. W. Raymond at a price near the lowest grades from the two competitors.

– A ¾ plate model was also designed to compete with the Waltham Nashua models.

– The first watches appeared on the market less than a year after startup.

• B. D. Bingham joined the company and introduced a patented dust band that could be retrofitted to the existing 1857 model Waltham as well as the new Tremont Model. The Tremont was advertised as a dustproof watch.

– Sales of Bingham patent dust bands to Waltham was a major source of income.*

*Bob Howatt – Private communication

Study Examples

Tremont Watch Co.• 1459 Tremont

• 1736 Tremont

• 2284 Tremont/Warren pat reg

• 5800 Tremont

• 6743 Tremont

• 31840 Melrose

• 31981 Melrose

• 11021 No Marking (EWCo) mvt

• 11928 Sainsbury London (Tremont) o

London 1873 William Hammon (Cov)

• 14452 H. Samuel, Manchester, o

B’ham hm 1875 Thomas Wallen (Cov)

• 40627 ¾ Tremont Boston B’ham hm

1876 Alfred Gurney (Cov)

• 40694 ¾ (Tremont) James Hardy

Aberdeen, London hm 1876 Joseph

Walton (Lon)

English Watch Co.• 144709N H. Samuel, unmarked EWCo uRcd mvt

• 15850E WA Tyson Birmingham EWCo., ocbc

B’ham hm 1876 Robert Bragge

• 10046 Tremont London cc2 B’ham hm 1878

Robert Bragge

• 10047 (identical to 10046) Penny 5/165*

• 27715 George Reeves, Appleby uRH cdc2 B’ham

hm 1879 Robert Bragge mb.nawcc.org*

• 30830W Kendal & Dent Cheapside London RH

EWCo, cd mvt

• 70448N EWCo sig BB u SWLS Ni Penny 6/50*

• 71651L EWCo sig BB uRH mvt

• 89944 Kendall & Dent Cheapside London uR

(EWCo) B’ham hm 1887 K&D

• 90916W Kay, Jones & Co. Worcester EWCo,

uRH mvt

• 92335 EWCo sig BB u SWLS Ni (ibid 70448)

u-undersprung/o-oversprung

R reversing pinion

H Haseler’s patent click

EWCo cypher: cd-under dial, cb-balance cock, cc-case

Tremont in England

* Reported observation

11021

1886e

70448

N

1866e

2284

1865e

1459

1868e

5800

15850

E

1876h

40627

1876h

40694

1876h

FP Tremont

FP Melrose

FP Anglo American

¾ Tremont

English Watch Co.

N 14470

9 1875e

14452

1875h

TW

1865e

1736

30830

W

1888e

92335

71651

L

1887e

90916

1864

Tremont

Watch Co

1869e

31840

1873h

11928 1874

English

Watch Co

10046

1878h

RB

10047

1878h

RB

89944

1887h8 year

gap

Timeline of Production

Serial numbers and Hallmarks

1868e

6743 1869e

31981

1871

Anglo American

Watch Co

~15,000 Tremont

1,000

Melrose

150

Anglo

Click on any watch

to see the example.

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at the target

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Tremont Boston

5800 15J Tremont

Watch Co. Boston

11021 9J No Signature

extra 0 inserted in sn could

be from final run of 1500

ordered not sold.

Early TremontsMinor variations in

early Tremont watches

include moving the

Fast/Slow marking

from The vertical edges

to the bottom of the

cock.

Warren’s patent

regulator is an early

spiral track disk

regulator similar to the

J. P. Stevens later patent.

Dials are marked

either Tremont

watch Co. or

Tremont Watch Co.

Boston

A small number of both

the full and ¾ plate are

marked Washington St.

on the barrel bridge.

B. D. Bingham’s

Magic Dust Band

Bingham’s dust band fits inside the plates of the watch and can be applied and removed at will. The small depression acts as the lock when the band is sprung to uniform diameter.

Patent granted Feb. 4, 1868 about the time Tremont was folding up.

Prior art was to fit the band to the outer edge of the plates requiring a larger opening.

Melrose Watch Co

When the inmates run the asylum

• Dennison’s model of the Tremont Watch Co. depended on low skill/low cost assembly operators in America and less expensive (than American) skilled operators in Switzerland.

• Bingham staffed the American plant with skilled operators who were paid twice Dennison’s estimated rate and were bored with the routine assembly work

• The result was a watch of medium quality that was too expensive to command market share and not interesting enough to excite the market.

• The American sales force took the easy way out and claimed that they needed a less expensive “All American” watch.

• The Melrose model/grade failed even more miserably than the Tremont had done.

• Eleven jewel watches were introduced in addition to the plain jeweled watches, but the game was over.

• The ¾ plate Tremont might have given the company enough product range to be competitive, but it was too late.

Melrose Watch Co Products

A close inspection shows the

Melrose “jewel settings” are fake

circles engraved on the plate. Click

movements for under dial view.

15J Tremont on left and

11J Melrose on right.

Anglo-American Watch Co.• When the American backers pulled out, Dennison tried to

dispose of the Tremont assets and held out the hope that he could interest another group of investors in reviving the effort.

• He eventually connected with investors in Birmingham who, in 1871, formed the Anglo-American Watch Manufacturing Company but did not offer Dennison an ownership position.

• A position as Superintendent was negotiated but never came to pass. The company itself failed to produce products and in 1874 the name was changed to the English Watch Company, Ltd.

• Dennison owned the material from the defunct Tremont Watch Co. which was a mix from the several flavors of Tremont and Melrose as well as the higher grade ¾ plate Tremont model.

• It is possible that Dennison continued to have watches finished for a period of time but since the bulk of the existing examples have markings from the English Watch Co. He likely just sold the material to raise start up capital for his watch case company.

Kelly Directory 1880

H. Sainsbury 11928

London 1873

Casemaker William

Hammon, Coventry

Only known

English finished

Tremont with hm

1872 – 1874.

Likely finished by

Anglo-American

Watch Co.

The English Watch Co.

• The English Watch Co was a manufacturer of machine made watches on the American plan.

• As with other English machine watch manufacturers, in the 19th century, they did not offer items under their company name but dealt almost exclusively in private label watches.

• An early customer was H. Samuel of Manchester who owned a chain of jewelry stores and advertised themselves as a watch manufacturer. (Which they were not.)

• Later they supplied the firm of Kendal & Dent who also pretended to manufacture watches but sold machine made watches of both English and Swiss manufacture as well as an occasional higher grade Clerkenwell watch.

English Watch Co. Tremont/Melrose 7J finished in Birmingham with

addition of cap. Over sprung as is standard Tremont. Note in under

dial view, the click and train pivots are identical to the Melrose.

Casemaker Thomas Wallen, King Street, Coventry.

H. Samuel Manchester

14452E hm 1875 TW

Tremont Boston 40627 ¾ Plate

Finished in Birmingham hm 1876 AG

Standard ¾ plate Tremont

finished in Birmingham in

1876 by the English Watch

Co. Casemaker Alfred

Gurney, 4 Conway Buildings

Smithford Street, Coventry

James Hardy 40694

Aberdeen 1876

Tremont 3/4 plate

finished in England

by English Watch Co

as Private Label.

London hm 1876

casemaker Joseph

Walton, 28 Tyson St,

Clerkenwell

W & A Tyson 15850

Birmingham hm 1876

Standard Tremont/Melrose

finished by English Watch

Co. Cypher on Balance

Cock. Casemaker Robert

Bragge, Villa Hall, 45 Villa

St., Hockley, Birmingham

for the English Watch Co.

Tremont London 10046

by English Watch Co.

15J Tremont 10046 finished by English Watch Co. in English Watch Co. Robert Bragge

case hm 1878. SN 10047 with identical marking sold by David Penney Cat 5 lot 165

H. Samuel EWCo

mvt 114709N

EWCo Cypher

Second form of English

Watch Co. mvt with

undersprung balance,

reversing pinion and cap

Kendal & Dent 30830W

Cheapside London

English Watch Co. for Kendal &

Dent. EWCo Cypher under dial and

1st form Haseler’s patent. Train and

balance cock as in Tremont. ~15s

Kendal & Dent

89944

hm 1887

Cheapside

LondonLate unmarked example of EWCo private label

using Tremont parts. Train, balance cock and

barrel bridge Tremont design or material.

Kay, Jones & Co

Worcester W90916

Example of a small

caliber ~15s with an

individual or small

jeweler private label.Click to Compate Sizes

The English Watch Co.

continued to use design

elements and perhaps parts

from the Tremont/Dennison

material in their reversing

pinion watch calibers.

13 size plain jeweled with new barrel

bridge design. Only the balance cock

and train remain from Tremont.

Haseler’s

Patent English Watch Co. fully signed

Tremont style watches1880’s

Stem wind push set 18s Tremont style 18s caliber with

new form of Haseler’s patent click. Nickel OF case no

seconds bit. (Would show at 4:30)

11021

1886e

70448

N

1866e

2284

1865e

1459

1868e

5800

15850

E

1876h

40627

1876h

40694

1876h

FP Tremont

FP Melrose

FP Anglo American

¾ Tremont

English Watch Co.

N 14470

9 1875e

14452

1875h

TW

1865e

1736

30830

W

1888e

92335

71651

L

1887e

90916

1864

Tremont

Watch Co

1869e

31840

1873h

11928 1874

English

Watch Co

10046

1878h

RB

10047

1878h

RB

89944

1887h8 year

gap

Timeline of Production

Serial numbers and Hallmarks

1868e

6743 1869e

31981

1871

Anglo American

Watch Co

~15,000 Tremont

1,000

Melrose

150

Anglo

Click on any watch

to see the example.

Click on this

at the target

to return

Melrose vs. English Watch Co

Bolt spring and hinge added.

Sight holes omitted.

Click image to return

EWCo Reversing Pinion

Movement Sizes

45.85 mm 18s

42.33 mm 15s

42.33 mm 15s

40.6 mm 13s

English Watch

Co. Ltd.

Kay Jones & Co.

Kendal & Dent

H. Samuel

Click on pictures

to return

Melrose/Tremont Under Dial

15J Tremont 11J Melrose

Click image to return