The Full-Plate 'Boston' Pocket Watches of Switzerland.
By Alan A. Myers.
The collectors of IWC vintage pocket watches know Alan Myers as the principal
author of the already classic reference book : 'F.A. Jones. His Life, Legacy
and Watches'.
Now, Alan has published an article on the full plate 'Boston' watches of which
also IWC produced a large number, when the factory was lead by F.F.Seeland.The
content of this article cannot be revealed here as the Horological Journal-in
which it was published in August- maintains a copyright.
These watches are often called Seeland calbres, but this is a wrong name. The
arche-type of this watch was a movement made by the American Watch Company in
Waltham, Massachusetts and was called the 'Boston' watch. A Swiss delegation
of watch manufacturers had visited the World Exhibition of Philadelphia, 1876.
That was 4 years after Jones has started the production of his three quarter
plate Jones calibres. They were struck by the fact that the Americans could
produce thousands of cheap full plate watches by machines and they also
realised that the Swiss watch industry was declining, losing its leading
position to North Amerca in a short period of time. Therefore a number of
Swiss based companies started rapidly to produce the Boston copied full plate
watches. Among them was Frederick Ferdinand Seeland, the successor of
F.A.Jones. He realised that the costs to make pocket watches had to be reduced
dramatically as the production of Jones watches was wa too expensive. However,
the mass produced full plate watches could not save IWC and the production was
only relevant in the last quarter of the 19th century. Around 1900 the full
plate 'Boston' had disappeared in Switzerland almost completely and its place
was taken over by the three quarter plate pocket watches. So, IWC was not only
the first watch company to use the American way of watch making for their high
quality first products but also their second produced timekeepers were based
on the same philosophy, although of modest
quality.(www.bhi.co.uk, H.J., August 2019, Volume 161,
No 8)
Regards,
Adrian.
(alwaysiwc)
