By Edwni A. Ban/son 



THE AUBURNDALE WATCH COMPANY: 



First American Attempt Toivard the Dollar Watch 



The lije of the pioneer has always been arduous. 

 Not all succeed, and many disappear leaving no 

 trace on the pages of history. Here, painstaking 

 search has uncovered enough of the record to permit 

 us to review the errors of design and manufacture 

 that brought failure to the first attempt to produce a 

 really cheap pocket ivatch. 



This paper is based on a study of the patent model 

 of the Auhurndale rotary and other products of the 

 company in the collections of the National Museum, 

 and of other collections, including that of the author. 

 The study comprises part of the background research 

 for the hall of timekeeping in the Museum of History 

 and Technology . 



The Author: Edwin A. Battison is associate 

 curator of mechanical and civil engineering. Museum 

 of History and Technology, in the Smithsonian 

 Institution s United States National Museum. 



THE IDEA OF A MACHINE-MADE WATCH with inter- 

 changeable parts had been in the minds of many 

 men for a long time. Several attempts had been made 

 to translate this conception into a reality. Success 

 crowned the efforts of those working near Boston, 

 Massachusetts, in the 1850's. The work done there 

 formed the basis on which American watch making 

 grew to such a point that by the 1870's watches of 

 domestic manufacture had captured nearly all the 

 home market and were reaching out and capturing 

 foreign markets as well. In spite of this great achieve- 

 ment there remained a large untapped potential 

 market for a watch which would combine the virtues 

 of close time keeping and a lower selling price. 

 Only a radical departure in design could achieve this. 

 Rivalry between the several existing companies had 

 already produced an irreducible minimum price on 

 watches of conventional design. 



The great obstacle to close rate in a modestly priced 

 watch is the balance wheel. This wheel requires 

 careful adjustment for temperature error and for 

 poise. Of these two disturbing factors poise is the 

 most annoying to the owner because lack of it makes 

 the watch a very erratic timekeeper. .\ watch in 

 which the parts are not poised is subject to a different 

 rate for every position it Ls placed in. This position 

 error, as it is called, can and often does cau.se a most 

 erratic and unpredictable rate. Abraham-Louis 

 Breguet, the celebrated Swiss-French horologist of 

 Paris is credited with the invention, in 1801,' of his 

 tourbillon, a clev'er way to circumvent this error. 



His solution was to mount the escapement in a 

 frame or "chariot" which revolved, usuallv once a 



' Paul M. C:iiainbcrlain, //'t ahoul time. New York, 1947, 

 p. 362. 



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BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .\ND TECHNONOGY 



