demand would reach 400 per month, while al other 

 seasons of the year practicalh- none at all were sold. 

 Some remained in stock during the remaining life of 

 the company, as is shown by the following advertise- 

 ment,'" which was accompanied by an illustration of 

 the watch: 



The old reliable Auburndale Chronograph Timers, for 

 sale by Edward H. Brown, No. i6 Maiden Lane, New York. 

 The manufacture of these watches having been discontinued 

 for reasons entirely apart from their value and reliability, 

 the stock in existence is very limited, and is now in the hands 

 of Mr. Edward H. Brown, No. i6 Maiden Lane, New York 

 City, the well known and reliable dealer in Watches, 

 Diamonds and Jewelry. The Auburndale timer has been 

 in the hands of a number of competent judges, and has 

 always been found to be accurate. It is of convenient size, 

 and is contained in a German silver case, nickel plated. 

 The timers are manufactured in two qualities, without split 

 seconds for $15 and with the split second for S25. They all 

 have minute, second and lightning hands. We recommend 

 all desiring a cheap and reliable timer to apply at once lo 

 Mr. Brown, No. 16 Maiden Lane, New York. 



A steadier market was sought with the introduction 

 of a low priced ^^-plate, back-.sctting, 18-size watch to 

 compete, it was hoped, with the full-plate watches of 

 similar price made by the established companies. 

 Nearly all these watches had seven jewels, some few 

 had more. The majority were key wind and set with 



Figure 1 9. — Split Second Mechanism of the Auburn- 

 dale timer, as shown in drawings from U. S. patent 

 220195, issued .September 30, 1879. 



a folding winding key permanently attached to the 

 barrel arbor, as in figure 21. These were named 

 "Lincoln" for Mr. Fowle's son, Lincoln A. Fowle,*^ 

 and had a solid steel balance with screws and the gen- 

 eral appearance of a comjicn.saled balance. A stem- 

 wound, levcr-.set edition of the same basic watch was 

 named "Bentley" for Bentley D. Fowle, another son." 

 This had a cut bimetallic balance and higher finish. 

 Conventional gilt finish was used on both of these 

 models, although one isolated specimen found in fac- 

 tory remainders" has a bright nickel finish compa- 

 rable with the rotary watch. These watches were de- 

 signed by Chauncey Hartwell,*' after J. H. Gerry 

 had removed to Lancaster, where the Lancaster 

 Watch Co., organized in August 1877, was attempting 

 to bring a line of watches onto the market although 

 beset by acute financial woes similar to those building 

 up at Auburndale. To return to our ^4-plate watches, 

 it may be said that they were well made for the price, 

 reliable, and successful from a manufacturing point of 

 view but could not be sold at a figure high enough to 

 return a profit on the manufacture. 



Up to this time, about November 1, 1879, the 

 Auburndale Watch Co., had existed as a private com- 

 pany; now it was incorporated with a book value of 

 S500,000, and William B. Fowle, w-ho at this point had 

 invested about $250,000 (mostly unrecoverable) in the 

 enterprise, was elected president, and George H. 

 Bourne was elected secretary and treasurer. 



After a quantity of these Lincoln and Bentley 

 watches had been manufactured " and it had become 

 clear that they could not be attractively priced to the 

 trade, the company sought a product adapted to their 

 factory equipment for which a constant market could 

 be found. The product chosen was a line of metallic 

 thermometers." Two patents, 240058 and 240059, 



*i The Jewelers Circular and Horological Review, July 1884. 

 PAPER 4: AUBURND.ALU WATCH COMPANY 



■"S.VVtt'/on director}; 1884-85; Crossman, op. cil. (footnote 8), 

 December 1887. 



« Records of Wterans .Administration, pension application 

 WE 666 675 of Mary E. Fowle (widow of William B. Fowle). 



" Serial 926, in author's collection. 



« Alroton directory, 1879. 



<" Each model of watch made at .\uburndalc was numbered 

 in its own series, starting at number 1, contrary to the usual 

 watch factory practice where blocks of serial numbers arc as- 

 signed to different models. Other .Vuburndale products seem 

 not to have borne serial numbers. 



*' Crossman, op. cil. (footnote 8), December 1887. 



65 



