My grandfather worked in that factory building, my mother grew up in Waltham. My parents met in Waltham. I was born there, and I held several jobs there early in my software development career. I just ordered my second Waltham watch. At some point I want to own a vintage Waltham pocket watch.
A brilliant documentary-such an impressive industry and a superb company. It’s great that collectors still keep alive the enthusiasm for the products and achievements of the large American watch companies.
16:34 - I'm surprised they don't explain why the Swiss took 90% of the US market during and after WW2. I guess I'll say. US watch companies were required to only produce war materials to include gyros for navigation, bomb sites, and GI issued watches. A-11s ect. By wars end the US equipment was completely worn out. Meanwhile, the Swiss had their import tariffs substantially lowered, by the US government, and stayed lowered after the war. Why was that? Because the US watch companies (group A) leased the watch making Tools from the Swiss tooling companies (Group B), But the Swiss (Group B) bought US equipment that made the watchmaking Tools (group C) that the US watch makers (Group A) leased from Group B, the Swiss. Why? They didn't want the Swiss to stop buying the US tool making equipment (Group C) so they gave the Swiss watch makers (Group D) excellent tariffs for selling watches. Which by the way was subsidized by the Swiss government to undercut US watch companies (Group A). It is no surprise the US watch industry collapsed. This is known history and should be a lesson of corrupt gov involvement within the private sector. I smell kick backs from Group C and Group B) to a few elected dudes. Lesson: Don't elect bad guys to fight bad guys. It never works out for the good guys. Unless your a Neutral party. The Swiss
It's a shame that many of us have lost sight, and thus passion, for American heritage brands such as Waltham. In its heyday Waltham was a horological powerhouse, manufacturing time pieces that could rival any in the world in beauty and reliability. Imagine if they would have continued on this same trajectory; would the US be a watch industry player capable of matching the Swiss in quality?
There were no battery powered watches in the 50s. Sounds to me that the company was mismanaged and the Swiss had an advantage as they didn't fight in the war.
There are no extra fees to Greece. Price already includes shipping, VAT and Duties. For the PVD versions: watchangels.ch/en/products/waltham-dual-time-gunmetal-grey/ and watchangels.ch/en/products/field-marine-red-12-black/ the Automatic PVD model is sold out.
Thank you! The case back is loyal to the original with all the manufacturer data. It was and is a tool-utilitarian watch. The case-back profile has a very interesting design feature which is that it is perfectly symmetrical with the bezel design and has the same knurling.
I restrict my own Hobbyist watchmaking to 19th Century Walthams such as the Model 57, 73 and 77 for exactly the information given in this video. I doubt seriously that the American citizen today has Any idea of the incredible jump forward that the Waltham Watch company induced in US industrial science.
This is true. The American industrial revolution came before the Swiss one and especially Waltham contributed to increase quality and the possibility of carrying out mass production at affordable prices by industrialising watch production. This method invented by Waltham, was called the American System of watch manufacturing. This system was then taken over by the Swiss. You find a great story here: medium.com/watchmakers-ch/industrial-espionage-and-the-eventual-downfall-of-the-waltham-watch-company-14290d235dfb
Thank you so much for thge link. I was also a bit disappointed to learn that the Waltham Watch Company records were gifted to Harvard University and are now held in a closed stack and are accessible only by appointment and pre-arranged permission of the University. Any recommendations regarding design and materials would be warmly appreciated. Best Wishes.....
@@BruceWSims Yes this is indeed true, all records are there, there is a small museum in the old factory in Waltham but relatively small. The best would be indeed to make an appointment at Harvard University...
Yes..in fact the room they used was found to be heavily contaminated with radium and barium-it was a "Superfund" site and was torn dowm 3 years ago.@@WATCHANGELS
Where's the watch. Definitely your mother took money for personal services and you are the result of one of those transactions. A mistake an accident. Have you found your father. I know the list was long. She did get through many men
Appreciate the authenticity but damn film it a bit better with decent audio and video. It helps showing credibility in the brand. I am considering the support with a preorder of the GMT version and honestly finding only crappy videos on RU-vid on the CB topic doesn’t help in convincing. The communication is part of a brand and if done poorly can communicate a potential poor care also of the product production itself
15:05 I thought the decline of Waltham (and Elgin and Hamilton too) was brought about by cheap, disposable watches from Timex. These unjeweled movements lasted a few years, until the steel vs. steel friction wore out the pivots and holes. Nobody cleaned and lubricated, let alone repaired these movements because it was uneconomical and watchmakers didn't have the special jig required to assemble them. Eventually, the LED, LCD and analog display quartz-crystal watch would eliminate the Timex mechanical watch in the same way.
They catered to different markets. If you could afford a Waltham why would you buy a cheap Timex? Quartz watches, however, did indeed kill many watch companies, because they were much more accurate. But the first quartz watches were, in fact, very expensive. They did not start to become inexpensive until the late 70s.
@@roytofilovski9530 Some of the early Timex adverts were meant to appeal to those who had a Waltham now fifteen years old and no longer running well. They had been thinking of taking it to a jeweler, then saw the Timex appeal and considered: why spend $15 (and up) for basic service on the Waltham when I can have an entirely new watch for a little more than half? The short-lived Timex cost more in the long run, but few noticed.
