The Waltham “Crescent Street” Movement: The Model 1870: Earliest Advertisements and Initial Production
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Despite the flagship “Crescent Street” watch eventually being classified as the “Model 1870,” advertisements for the new railroad watch began to appear in late 1869.
The earliest known advertisement for the Model 1870 Crescent Street appeared in the December 1869 issue of The Watchmaker and Jeweler (Volume 1, No. 4, Page 70).
The advertisement was published by the firm of Robbins & Appleton, the sales agent for the American Watch Company at the time.
Because the promotions were circulated in a trade publication, a full description of the new movement and features was included:
“To the Trade:
A NEW FULL PLATE MOVEMENT
MADE BY THE
American Watch Company of Waltham.
We have to submit to your examination a new description of Watch Movement, which will hereafter make a separate class and variety. Being produced by the set of workman which makes the highest grade of Waltham manufacture, and mainly by entirely new machinery, we are instructed to represent it as the best Full-plate Movement ever made in this country, and as being likely, on account of its many particular point of excellence, as well as of its general quality and reasonable cost, to become very popular. We call attention expressly to the new regulator – for which a patent is pending – by which, as is obvious at a glance, the very smallest change can be effected with certainty. The watchmaker will observe the pivot of the steel star wheel is set in a small eccentric of brass, by means of which the pinion can always be maintained in close contact with the segment on the regulator.
Another great improvement will be found in the Ratchet Click, which is also the subject of application for patent. By turning with a screw driver the steel post half a turn, the point of the spring which forms a part of the Click will be brought inside the post, and the watch can then by let down by the key. Other improvements will be observed in this watch; notably, the setting of the hands on the back of the Watch, also, the holding of the dial by screws. It is furnished with patent centre pinion and dust ring. This variety will bear, as a trade mark, the words, “American Watch Co., Crescent St., Waltham Mass.” It is placed in the list at a price that should insure a very general sale. Being a new shape and caliber, it will not fit the regular Waltham full plate case, and casing blocks will be supplied as usual.
The various trademarks of the various styles made by the Company:
AMERICAN WATCH Co… Waltham, Mass
AMN. WATCH Co… Waltham, Mass.
AMERICAN WATCH Co., Crescent-st… Waltham, Mass
APPLETON, TRACY & Co… Waltham, Mass
WALTHAM WATCH Co… Waltham, Mass.
P.S. BARTLETT… Waltham, Mass
WM. ELLERY… Waltham, Mass
HOME WATCH Co… Boston, Mass.
ROBBINS & APPLETON,
GENERAL AGENTS, 182 BROADWAY, N.Y.
Jewelers who desire Prices, must send Business Card.”
The advertisement published in December 1869 likely served as a teaser while the company completed the initial batch of movements at the factory. The advertisements ceased for a month before reappearing in the February 1870 issue of The Watchmaker and Jeweler. This correlates with the production dates for the first run of Model 1870 Crescent Street movements detailed in the factory ledger. The run was recorded as starting in January 1870 with serial number 470,501 and concluding in May 1870 with number 471,000.
Fortunately, a contributor to the Pocket Watch Database has uploaded images of a surviving example from the first run of Crescent Street watches, representing a pivotal point in the progression of the American watchmaking industry.
