Waltham, Massachusetts · 1850–1957

Waltham pocket watches

Waltham was the first American company to make watches by machine in real numbers, and it kept at it for about a century from its factory on Crescent Street, beside the Charles River. It began in 1850 as Aaron Dennison's venture and moved to Waltham in 1854. By the end it had made over 34 million jeweled watches, more than anyone in America except Elgin. On a Waltham the grade name engraved on the movement tells you most of the story. Vanguard and Crescent Street were the railroad workhorses, Riverside the long-running quality grade, and the Maximus grades sat at the top. American movement production wound down in the 1950s, and today's Waltham-branded watches come from a Swiss company that kept the name.

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