Lot 43
HIRAM W. SMITH, BOSTON. A RARE SILVER HUNTER CASED WATCH RELATED TO THE WALTHAM M 1857Case with hallmark for Chester, 1859
14 April 2022, 13:00 EDT
New YorkUS$3,000 - US$5,000
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HIRAM W. SMITH, BOSTON. A RARE SILVER HUNTER CASED WATCH RELATED TO THE WALTHAM M 1857
Date: Case with hallmark for Chester, 1859
Movement: Gilt 13-jewel, key wound, 18-size M1857-style full plate, going barrel, jewels in settings, diamond endstone, gold three arm balance with flat spring, regulator index engraved on plate, serial number 6936
Dial: White enamel, minute ring enclosing roman chapters, sunk subsidiary seconds dial, blued tulip hands with setting square
Case: Engine turned sterling silver, vacant cartouche, pierced silver cuvette, serial number 76936
Signed: Movement, numbered on case lids and movement
Size: 55mm
Movement: Gilt 13-jewel, key wound, 18-size M1857-style full plate, going barrel, jewels in settings, diamond endstone, gold three arm balance with flat spring, regulator index engraved on plate, serial number 6936
Dial: White enamel, minute ring enclosing roman chapters, sunk subsidiary seconds dial, blued tulip hands with setting square
Case: Engine turned sterling silver, vacant cartouche, pierced silver cuvette, serial number 76936
Signed: Movement, numbered on case lids and movement
Size: 55mm
Footnotes
Literature:
Nijssen, G. A. George P. Reed & Hiram W. Smith: Two of Greater Boston's Individual Watchmakers. NAWCC Bulletin, February 2005, pp 3-24
Hiram Smith (1820 – 1898) was trained as a watchmaker in his native New Hampshire. By 1852, he had established a watch and watch material business in Boston. Using imported parts, beginning in 1859, he manufactured watches under his own name. The business was short-lived, and it is thought he produced less than 100 watches. Surviving movements include ¾ plate and Swiss bar pattern examples and a full plate model closely similar to the Waltham M1857 as found in the present watch.
This watchmaking venture coincided with the financially troubled early years of the watch factory at Waltham. During this period, the several proprietors of the factory were forced to sell accumulated watch material including partial movements. The fate of these is the subject of scholarly speculation. Smith would certainly been aware of these sales and may have indirectly obtained a portion of the material.
The Waltham factory ledger documenting the years 1858 – 1859 list the sequence of serial numbers, 6901 – 8100 as "not made". The serial number of the present watch is 6936. The serial number of the other documented full plate movement is 6937. This may be a coincidence. But on the other hand, the dispersed material from the Waltham factory could have been finished by Smith and sold under his own name.
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