Timing a Century

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The Waltham Watch Company, under a series of different names but continuous management, turned a hundred years old. It was the oldest watch company in America and the company that introduced large-scale production into watchmaking.

The story of its alternate successes and failures is romantic and spectacular. The Company’s experiences have, on the whole, been typical of American business and one may find here the complete cycle of a business—how it grows, reaches a height, then staggers with age, and finally is revivified. Charles Moore has based his history primarily on the records of the Waltham Watch Company itself and on conversations with executives and workers in the Company.