Waltham a 9K gold wristwatch and two others the white enamel...

Estimate

£80 - £120

Waltham a 9K gold wristwatch and two others the white enamel dial having black Roman numerals, blued-steel baton hands, a subsidiary seconds dial and signed Waltham, USA, the movement having a lever escapement with the backplate signed A.W.W. Co., Waltham, USA and numbered 554580, the case hallmarked within A.L.D. for the Dennison Watch Case Company and hallmarked for 9K gold, Birmingham 1925 and numbered 374492, with leather strap diameter 30mm, gross weight c.20.76gs. A pre-war silver wristwatch the dial having black Roman numerals, red XII o'clock numeral and blued-steel spade hands, the movement having a lever escapement with the case marked .925, with leather strap, diameter 28mm, gross weight c.21.17gs Seiko Chorus a gentleman's gold-plated wristwatch the dial having raised Dauphine numerals and matching hands, and signed Seiko Chorus, Diashock, 17 jewels, the rear stamped with Seiko markings and numbered 5600425, with leather strap, diameter 20mm. Note: The idea for the Waltham Watch Company came from watchmaker Aaron Lufkin Dennison, born 1812, having seen a gap in the market following the increase in watches coming from the workshops in England and Switzerland. Dennison first served as a jeweller's apprentice before, in 1833, he took on the role of a journeyman watchmaker with the firm of Currier & Trott in Boston before setting up on his own account in 1839. In 1849, Dennison went into business making watches with Edward Howard and were joined by David P. Davis and financier Samuel Curtis to form the American Horologe Company, soon to change to Warren Manufacturing. Dennison visited England to learn more about production of watches and purchase supplies noting that the watch industry in England was still not highly mechanised therefore giving him the belief that their business model, of making machined parts that were interchangeable rather than each part individually by hand, could make a real impact in England. It was for this reason that Dennison is generally credited with being the father of American mass-production watchmaking. The company began in Roxbury, Massachusetts on a property already owned by partners Howard and Davis where both Swiss and American watchmakers were employed. In 1853 the name of the company was changed to the Boston Watch Company and in 1854 land was purchased in nearby Waltham and a building constructed. In 1857 financial problems saw the Waltham Improvement Company foreclose on the mortgage it held for the Waltham factory with the Waltham property purchased by Royal Robins. Dennison remained as superintendent of the Waltham facility until 1862 and so 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 and in 1885, the company name changed to the American Waltham Watch Company (AWW Co). 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 company closed its factory doors and declared bankruptcy in 1949. A reorganized Waltham relaunched watch manufacturing in March 1952 announcing that the company would itself begin the importation of complete watch movements from Switzerland. Waltham continued in various guises over the intervening years with changes of ownership, rights to the name and location. Having left Waltham in 1862, it was in 1864 that Aaron Dennison and A. O. Bigelow set up the Tremont Watch Company in Boston with the finer watch parts, such as escapements and movement trains, made in Switzerland and the larger parts made in America. Dennison moved to Zurich, Switzerland. In February 1871, Aaron moved from Zurich to England where he assembled some watches using parts left over from the Zurich workshops and plates from Tremont. In 1874 the name was changed to the English Watch Manufacturing Company at which point Dennison left the company. In 1862 Dennison founded a business in Birmingham making pocket watch cases in both gold, silver and gold-plated. They supplied the London office of the Waltham Watch Company amongst others becoming the largest supplier of cases. In 1879, Alfred Wigley joined the firm becoming Dennison, Wigley & Company and following Aaron Dennison's death in 1895, his son Franklin became a partner in the firm. In 1905 it was renamed the Dennison Watch Case Co., supplying many of the well-known watchmakers of the time including Rolex. The company continued until 1967.