Measuring & Mapping

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

This watch, made about 1907, has a special dial and other precision features tailored to the accuracy requirements of railroaders.Established in 1877 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Hampden Watch Company relocated to Canton, Ohio, in 1888.
Description
This watch, made about 1907, has a special dial and other precision features tailored to the accuracy requirements of railroaders.
Established in 1877 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Hampden Watch Company relocated to Canton, Ohio, in 1888. The firm merged with a watch case manufacturer in the same city in 1923 to become the Dueber-Hampden Watch Co. and failed in 1927. The Soviet Union, through its trade representative in the United States, Amtorg Trading Corporation, purchased the firm’s machinery in 1929, shipped it to Moscow and began making watches shortly thereafter.
Details:
Movement: Signed: "Hampden Watch Co."; Serial #2191954; Nickel finish, face, full plate, 18 size, stem wind and lever set, regulator on bridge, bimetallic balance, lever escapement, factory ID series IV, 23 jewels, adjusted to 5 positions, movement marked: “NEW Railway 2191954/PATENT PINION/[logo]/23 JEWELS ADJUSTED/Canton, Ohio.”
Case: replacement, gold-filled, open face, back is engine-turned with central blank cartouche; back screws on and off, marked: “Kingston/GUARANTEED/20 YEARS/2409028”
Dial: white enamel, double sunk, heavy Arabic hour numerals, outer red ring of Arabic minutes and minute marks, seconds in black at 6, marked: “Hampton Watch Co.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1907
manufacturer
Hampden Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317058
catalog number
317058
accession number
230383
serial number
2191954
This is an example of the Hamilton Watch Company’s watch model “Grade 936,” made about 1900. Designed for a case with an open face, the nickel movement is stem-wound and set with a lever on the side of the case.
Description
This is an example of the Hamilton Watch Company’s watch model “Grade 936,” made about 1900. Designed for a case with an open face, the nickel movement is stem-wound and set with a lever on the side of the case. The gold-filled case is a product of the Keystone Watch Case Company.
date made
ca 1900
manufacturer
Hamilton Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317117
catalog number
317117
accession number
230383
serial number
136499
Wristwatches are relative newcomers among timekeepers. Although no one knows precisely when or where they first appeared, it is likely that the modern wristwatch dates from around 1880.
Description
Wristwatches are relative newcomers among timekeepers. Although no one knows precisely when or where they first appeared, it is likely that the modern wristwatch dates from around 1880. About that time, fashionable women in England and Europe began to wear small watches set in leather bands around their wrists, especially for outdoor activities like hunting, horseback riding and, later, bicycling. Men, for the most part, did not wear wristwatches then. They considered them feminine jewelry.
The Swiss pioneered wristwatch manufacturing, with American firms entering the business only in the second decade of the 20th century. This example – made by the Elgin National Watch Company of Elgin, Illinois, in 1917 just before America entered World War I – features a small mechanical movement with seven jewels. Over the dial is a metal grill to protect the crystal while still permitting a quick read of the time. Such grills acquired the nickname "shrapnel guard" during the war, when wristwatches increased in popularity with men.
The practicality of having time at a glance, the feature that attracted active women to the style in the first place, changed military men's minds about wristwatches. As soldiers entered World War I, they experimented with fastening pocket watches to their sleeves or their legs. As the war progressed, the wristwatch became ubiquitous among male soldiers of all branches of the armed forces and female nurses who cared for the wounded. European manufacturers reportedly worked overtime to convert existing women's watches into military timepieces to meet the demand.
This Elgin wristwatch looks much like today's. But when wristwatches first appeared, it wasn't at all clear what they should look like or how people should wear them. The location of the winding stem, or crown, was particularly puzzling. Some early wristwatches placed the crown in line with 3:00 on the dial, others at 9:00. Also unclear was how the watch dial should be oriented on the strap. Should 12:00 and 6:00 line up with the strap or at a right angle to it? By the 1910s, the position of the crown and the orientation on the strap, for the most part, conformed to the style we know today.
In addition to a variety of appearances, the earliest versions of the newfangled timekeeper had a variety of names. Early advertisements called it "wrist strap watch" or just "strap watch" for men and "watch bracelet," "bracelet watch," "wristlet watch" or simply "wristlet" for women. After World War I, watch manufacturers tried to negate the wristwatch's feminine image by advertising that reassured men of the wristwatch's sturdy masculinity. But even as late as 1943, wristwatches were still called "bracelet watches" or "wristlets," recalling feminine jewelry.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1917
manufacturer
Elgin National Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.333963
catalog number
333963
accession number
304914
The Peoria Watch Co., Peoria, Ill., made this high-grade watch. The movement is marked with the company’s name and serial number 17672.
Description
The Peoria Watch Co., Peoria, Ill., made this high-grade watch. The movement is marked with the company’s name and serial number 17672. The dial indicates the watch could be used for railroad timekeeping, where the most reliable watches and clocks were fundamental to safe and efficient operation. The definition of a railroad watch changed over time and varied among railroad companies in the nineteenth century, but by about 1920 generally accepted, closely specified standards governed almost every detail of watch construction for railway use.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1887
manufacturer
Peoria Watch Co.
ID Number
1982.0518.001
catalog number
1982.0518.001
accession number
1982.0518
serial number
17672
The Rockford Watch Company, in business near Chicago between 1873 and 1915, made high-quality watches, mostly for railroad men.Currently not on view
Description
The Rockford Watch Company, in business near Chicago between 1873 and 1915, made high-quality watches, mostly for railroad men.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876
patent date
1874-06-02
manufacturer
Rockford Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.330353
catalog number
330353
accession number
288889
For most of the nineteenth century, women had worn watches hung from long chains around the neck, but by the end of the century styles changed. Fashion magazines advocated a variety of timepieces for women who could afford luxuries.
Description
For most of the nineteenth century, women had worn watches hung from long chains around the neck, but by the end of the century styles changed. Fashion magazines advocated a variety of timepieces for women who could afford luxuries. A well-to-do woman might own a very special bracelet containing a watch or a watch set in a ring. More common were watches designed to pin at her waist or, like this one made in Switzerland about 1900, on her lapel.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901
ID Number
ME.315969
catalog number
315969
accession number
224781
This watch, made by the American Watch Company in Waltham, Mass., dates from 1879.
Description
This watch, made by the American Watch Company in Waltham, Mass., dates from 1879. The firm was an important force in both watch and machinery design in the 19th century.
Details:
Movement: spring going barrel, ¾ plate, gilt finish, 14 size, stem wind and lever set, bimetallic compensation balance, regulator on bridge, marked: “Amer..n Watch Co../Riverside./WALTHAM, MASS./1143246”; back of front plate marked: “WOERDS PATENTS”
Case: engraved hunting, yellow gold, marked inside dial and back covers: “6052094”
Dial: white enamel, Roman numerals, blued steel hands, sunk seconds with Arabic numerals at 6, marked: “AMERICAN WATCH CO.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1879
manufacturer
American Waltham Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317280
catalog number
317280
accession number
230383
The movement in this silver-cased watch, serial number 97569, was made by the U.S. Watch Company, Waltham, Mass., about 1892. It is stem-wound and set with a lever on the side of the case.Currently not on view
Description
The movement in this silver-cased watch, serial number 97569, was made by the U.S. Watch Company, Waltham, Mass., about 1892. It is stem-wound and set with a lever on the side of the case.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1892
maker
U.S. Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317055
catalog number
317055
accession number
230383
This watch, once owned by a woman, dates from about 1879.The Elgin National Watch Co. was founded in Elgin, Illinois, in 1864 at the end of the Civil War to compete with the American Waltham Watch Co.
Description
This watch, once owned by a woman, dates from about 1879.
The Elgin National Watch Co. was founded in Elgin, Illinois, in 1864 at the end of the Civil War to compete with the American Waltham Watch Co. In its early decades it helped to establish a robust American watch manufacturing industry, and, by the time it ceased operation in 1968, it had produced millions of watches.
The donor of this watch, George W. Spier, was custodian of the U.S. National Museum's watch collection. He was also founding president, beginning in 1921, of the American Horological Institute, an organization for professional watchmakers. Born in Germany, Spier was a well-known jeweler in Washington, D.C.
Details:
Movement: spring going barrel, ¾ plate, gilt finish, 6 size, 7 jewels hunting, stem wind and lever set, bimetallic compensation balance, straight lever escapement, regulator on bridge; marked: "Elgin National Watch Co./ Patent Pinion/ 597929"
Dial: white enamel with Roman numerals, blued steel hands, sunk Arabic numeral seconds at 6; marked “ELGIN” in decorative rectangle
Case: hunting style; monogrammed "C.H.S."; dust cap engraved: “Presented by her Brothers”; also marked with maker’s marks: “B.&T./18K/11105”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875
manufacturer
Elgin National Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.307399
patent number
577929
catalog number
307399
accession number
68114
Dating from between 1891 and 1898, this watch represents a new design that its manufacturer, the Waterbury Watch Company, hoped would overcome difficulties with an earlier product, the Long Wind.In 1880 the Waterbury Watch Co., then a new corporation founded by Connecticut brass
Description
Dating from between 1891 and 1898, this watch represents a new design that its manufacturer, the Waterbury Watch Company, hoped would overcome difficulties with an earlier product, the Long Wind.
In 1880 the Waterbury Watch Co., then a new corporation founded by Connecticut brass manufacturers Benedict and Burnham, sold the Long Wind for $3.50. This was in sharp contrast to the cheapest American-made watches at that time, which sold, cased, for between $8 and $20. At first the company had great success, but interest waned after middlemen devised a scheme to give away the Long Wind with the purchase of a suit of clothes. The firm then tried to revive falling sales with more conventional and costly watch designs like this watch, a lively advertising campaign and, in 1898, a new corporate name--the New England Watch Company. The pioneering enterprise ultimately failed in 1912, but other firms would take up the manufacture of cheap reliable timepieces that came to be known as “dollar” watches.
Details:
Movement: spring-driven, duplex escapement, regulator with indicator between plates, back plate marked: “TRADEMARK/The Waterbury Watch Co./WATERBURY/CONN. U.S.A./Patented Series J; between plates marked: “Duplex/Patents” and numerous patent dates.
Dial: white enamel, blued steel hands with second hand missing, sunk seconds at 6; marked: “WATERBURY/logo with initials for WWC
Case: open face, nickel-plated, back snaps on
References:
Watch,” Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, United States National Museum Bulletin 218 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1959).
Harry Chase Brearley, Time Telling Through the Ages (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1919).
William J. Pape, History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut (Chicago, New York: S. J. Clarke Publishing, 1918).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
Waterbury Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.259072
catalog number
259072
accession number
51251
This watch, made about 1880, featured a radical new design from the gifted watchmaker D. Azro A. Buck. Buck had filed for a patent (US204000) for his design in the fall of 1877.
Description
This watch, made about 1880, featured a radical new design from the gifted watchmaker D. Azro A. Buck. Buck had filed for a patent (US204000) for his design in the fall of 1877. With the new kind of watch, Buck and his backers aimed to lower production costs and, consequently, the final sale price while still maintaining a reasonable accuracy. With fewer than 60 parts, half as many as conventional watches, the Long Wind took its name from its nine-foot-long mainspring and the effort to keep it wound. In addition to these novelties, the watch’s movement rotated in the case once in twenty-four hours.
The Long Wind was the first product of the Waterbury Watch Co., a new corporation founded about 1880 by Connecticut brass manufacturers Benedict and Burnham. It sold for about $3.50, in contrast to the cheapest American-made watches at that time that would sell, cased, for between $8 and $20. At first the company had great success, but interest dropped considerably when middlemen devised a scheme to give away the Long Wind with the purchase of a suit of clothes. The firm tried to revive sales with new watch designs, a lively advertising campaign and in 1898 a new name--the New England Watch Company. The pioneering enterprise failed in 1912, but other firms would take up the manufacture of cheap reliable watches, which came to be known as “dollar” watches.
Details:
Movement: long-wind mainspring, rotary duplex escapement, stem wound, two-wheel train
Dial: printed paper chapter ring with Roman numerals, skeletonized center with view into movement, blued steel hour and minute hand; marked: “PATENTED/MAY 21, 1878”
Case: open face, nickel-plated metal, snap-on back missing; pierced dust cap marked:
“WATERBURY WATCH/PATENTED/IN THE UNITED STATES,/GREAT BRITAIN,/CANADA, FRANCE,/GERMANY, AUSTRIA,/RUSSIA, SPAIN,/SWEDEN, DENMARK,/BELGIUM/BENEDICT 7 BURNHAM MFG’ Co./MANUFACTURERS/WATERBURY CONN. U.S.A.”
References:
Edwin Battison, “The Auburndale Watch Company: First American Attempt Toward the Dollar Watch,” Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, United States National Museum Bulletin 218 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1959).
Harry Chase Brearley, Time Telling Through the Ages (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1919).
William Dunn, “The Waterbury Rotary Watch,” National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Bulletin, October 2010, 542-553.
William J. Pape, History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut (Chicago, New York: S. J. Clarke Publishing, 1918).
date made
ca 1879
maker
Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1984.0416.153
catalog number
1984.0416.153
accession number
1984.0416
This stem-winding watch was made by E. Howard and Company of Boston, Mass.
Description
This stem-winding watch was made by E. Howard and Company of Boston, Mass. The firm was an American pioneer in building the high-quality stem-winding watches that replaced key-wound watches in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Company founder Edward Howard began a clockmaking business in 1842, branched out into watchmaking about 1850 with partners in what would eventually become the American Watch Company in Waltham and then left to form his own watch company in 1858. Howard retired in 1881, but the firm carried on under various names until the early 21st century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1876
1873
maker
Howard Watch Company
ID Number
1984.0416.229
catalog number
1984.0416.229
accession number
1984.0416
Made about 1914, this watch—both case and movement—were manufactured by the Keystone Watch Case Company. Keystone had bought the rights to use the Howard name, and the watch is marked: "E. Howard Watch Co.
Description
Made about 1914, this watch—both case and movement—were manufactured by the Keystone Watch Case Company. Keystone had bought the rights to use the Howard name, and the watch is marked: "E. Howard Watch Co. Boston U.S.A." In a 10k gold case, the nickel movement with serial number 1183943 is stem-wound and set with a lever at the side of the case near the dial’s numeral one. The style of the dial—easily-read bold black numbers, minute marks and hands—evolved for railroad watches.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1914
manufacturer
E. Howard Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317099
catalog number
317099
accession number
230383
serial number
1183943
A Washington, D.C., policeman, Thomas Oriani, received this watch as a Christmas present in 1890 from the jewelers on his Seventh Street beat in appreciation for his keeping a protective eye on their businesses.The watch movement—marked “Appleton, Tracy & Co., Waltham, Mass.” and
Description
A Washington, D.C., policeman, Thomas Oriani, received this watch as a Christmas present in 1890 from the jewelers on his Seventh Street beat in appreciation for his keeping a protective eye on their businesses.
The watch movement—marked “Appleton, Tracy & Co., Waltham, Mass.” and with serial number 4299303—was made by the American Waltham Watch Company.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
American Waltham Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.315931
catalog number
315931
accession number
225007
In a style common in the second half of the eighteenth century, this watch has two silver cases that nest one inside the other. The inner case of the pair holds the watch movement and provides access to the movement through holes for winding and setting.
Description
In a style common in the second half of the eighteenth century, this watch has two silver cases that nest one inside the other. The inner case of the pair holds the watch movement and provides access to the movement through holes for winding and setting. The outer case protects the inner contents from shock and dust.
Dating from about 1815, this is one of the earliest watches made in the United States. The movement is engraved: “Luther Goddard and Son/ Shrewsbury/ No. 351.” Goddard reportedly made six hundred watches in Shrewsbury and Worcester, Mass., and trained his sons Daniel and Parley in the craft.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1812-1825
ID Number
ME.315879
catalog number
315879
accession number
224777
serial number
351
Railroad managers learned that to have their lines run on time, they needed to issue accurate timepieces to their employees. This watch was made in 1869 by Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., under contract to the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Description
Railroad managers learned that to have their lines run on time, they needed to issue accurate timepieces to their employees. This watch was made in 1869 by Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., under contract to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Outside case back is engraved "449," the number of the locomotive on which the watch was used. The "449" was a Baldwin 10-wheeler delivered to the railroad in July 1869.
The watch is an 18-size, 15-jewel key-wind movement in silver case. Movement marked: "B.W. Raymond / Patent Pinion / No. 69170 / Elgin, Ills." The B. W. Raymond model was named for Elgin’s first president, who also had been mayor of Chicago twice and president of the Elgin and State Line Railroad Co. Inside of dust cap marked: "7431." Inside of case back stamped: "J. R. Reed & Co. / Pitts / Coin / 7431." Dial reads: "PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD CO." Its steel winding key survives.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
manufacturer
Elgin National Watch Co.
ID Number
1982.0517.01
accession number
1982.0517
catalog number
1982.0517.01
serial number
69170
This mechanical wristwatch dates from about 1911.Dial details: white enamel dial marked “Hamilton” with sunk seconds at 6. Arabic numerals for hours, minute marks. Luminous hour and minute hands.Case and band details: wrist band of metal links.
Description
This mechanical wristwatch dates from about 1911.
Dial details: white enamel dial marked “Hamilton” with sunk seconds at 6. Arabic numerals for hours, minute marks. Luminous hour and minute hands.
Case and band details: wrist band of metal links. Case marked: “Hamilton Watch Co., Lancaster, Pa./ 14K/ 6677585.”
Movement details: nickel movement marked: “1256109 /Lady Hamilton /Lancaster, Pa. Adjusted.” Movement has compensation balance and patent regulator. Stem wind and set at 3.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1911
maker
Hamilton Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317113
catalog number
317113
accession number
230383
This mechanical wristwatch has a nickel Swiss-made movement housed in a case marked: “Illinois Watch Case Co., Elgin, Warranted 25 years, 3897189." Stem wind and set at 12.Currently not on view
Description
This mechanical wristwatch has a nickel Swiss-made movement housed in a case marked: “Illinois Watch Case Co., Elgin, Warranted 25 years, 3897189." Stem wind and set at 12.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1915
maker, case
Illinois Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317223
catalog number
317223
accession number
230383
The Smithsonian received this watch from J. R. Wells in memory of his father Henry Gilbert "Doc" Wells, an engineer on Southern Railroad, Washington Division, who operated steam engine No.
Description
The Smithsonian received this watch from J. R. Wells in memory of his father Henry Gilbert "Doc" Wells, an engineer on Southern Railroad, Washington Division, who operated steam engine No. 1401, now on exhibit in the National Museum of American History.
The Hamilton Watch Company, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, made this watch movement about 1907. It has a full-plate nickel movement with the model name Grade 940 and a serial number 686525. It has an open-face nickel case and a white enamel railroad-style dial with not only hour numerals but also minute numerals and marks 1 through 60.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1907-1910
manufacturer
Hamilton Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.334015
catalog number
334015
accession number
306601
serial number
686585
This is a watch designed as a timer for horses.
Description
This is a watch designed as a timer for horses. A horseracing craze in the 1850s influenced product designers at the American Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts, to add the chronodrometer (from the Greek roots: chrono - time, drom - running/race, meter - measure) to their line of conventional watches. The chronodrometer was the first mass-produced stopwatch.
The chronodrometer's dial could mark quarter seconds, but it was unlike any other stopwatch in use then or now. A sweep hand in the center of the dial revolved once every four minutes; at the bottom of the dial, a small hand revolved once every four seconds. At the top was a conventional dial with numerals 1 through 12 and hour and minute hands for indicating the correct time of day. When the watch was used as a timer, the time train inconveniently stopped.
Between 1858 and 1861, the American Watch Company made about four hundred chronodrometers-not a huge number by mass-production standards. The stopwatch sold for $50, compared to $150 to $250 for a high-grade import. At that time, stopwatches of any kind were still rare.
The American Watch Company had been launched in 1849 in a corner of the Howard & Davis clock factory in Roxbury, near Boston, where Edward Howard and Aaron Dennison experimented with completely new designs for watches and the machines to make them. Howard, a clockmaker, had absorbed techniques for the mass production of firearms with interchangeable parts during a visit to the Springfield Armory. Why not, he thought, try it with watches? With expert help from a cadre of experienced mechanicians and funding from Howard's father-in-law, the Boston mirror maker Samuel Curtis, the enterprise got under way.
From shaky beginnings as America's first watch business, the Waltham firm would go on to pioneer mass-production techniques and teach the rest of the world how to make watches by machine. Waltham remained an important innovative force in both watch and machinery design for the rest of the century. The firm's success spawned a raft of competitors, and the American watch industry began to turn out movements and watches by the millions.
date made
ca 1859
patent date
1859-02-08
manufacturer
American Waltham Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.316148
catalog number
316148
accession number
225117

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