Boston Watch Company Private Label Hampden with Goold’s Patent Regulator

c.1877 “Boston Watch Co.” private label manufactured by the Hampden Watch Company. This movement is consistent with the “Railway” grade offered by Hampden during this era, featuring nickel plates, factory adjustment, and 15 jewels in gold settings. Most “Railway” movements feature the patent micrometric regulator designed by Charles Teske. However, this watch is fitted with a rare patent regulator by Frank C. Goold. An advertisement by Geo. H. Richards, Jr. in an 1884 issue of The Jewelers’ Circular and Horological Review claims sole agency for Goold’s Patent Regulator. This advertisement suggests that Hampden manufactured the “Boston Watch Co.” movements for Richards’ retail operation in Boston.

Note: The “Boston Watch Co.” private label is not related to the Boston Watch Company that was formed during the infancy of the American watch industry in the 1850s. Some collectors mistake these private labels from the late 1870s and early 1880s as products of the Boston Watch Company which eventually became the American Watch Company and then, Waltham. However, they are unrelated.