The Time Museum Historical Catalogue of American Pocket Watches [Hardcover]

Donald Robert Hoke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0912947047 | ISBN-13: 978-0912947044 | Publication Date: September 1991

The most complete reference on American pocket watches. Two introductory essays offer a new perspective on 19th century watch production and detailed information about the important Waltham Watch Company. Beautifully illustrated catalogue of, according to author Roy Ehrhardt, Jr., "the world's greatest collection of American watches on exhibit to the public." Full bibliography and index. 552 illustrations (133 b/w), 419 full color).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It appears to me that virtually every American maker is ideally represented. This book should enrigh the most knowledgeable collector of such watches and provide a well-recommended basis for all others." -- Henry B. Fried, CMW, CMC, FAWI, FBHI, *FNAWCC, author of numerous articles and books including The Watch Repairer's Manual and Bench Practices for Watch and Clockmakers

"Whether on owns an ancestor's Howard, Waltham or Elgin watch or has a large collection of American watches, his appreciation of what made such pieces possible will be greatly increased by a careful reading of this work. For all interested in horology, it will prove a ready reference work and valuable library addition" -- D.J. Blackwell, past President of the American Clock and Watch Museum

About the Author

Donald Hoke has been fascinated with watches since his childhood days in Silver Spring, Maryland. A former Hagley Fellow at the University of Delaware, he received his Ph.D. in American Economic History from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His dissertation, "Ingenious Yankees: The Rise of the American System of Manufactures in the Private Sector," won the prestigious 1985 Columbia University Prize in Economic History in Honor of Allen Nevins and was published by Columbia University Press. His museum expertise includes several years as Assistant Curator of History (Americana) at the Milwaukee Public Museum and later as Executive Director of the Outagamie County Historical Society, Inc. in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 330 pages
• Publisher: Time Museum (September 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912947047
• ISBN-13: 978-0912947044
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #838,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Time Museum Historical Catalogue of American Pocket Watches (Hardcover)

Anyone who collects or just likes pocket watches will love this book. The many pictures (showing examples from the collection) are breathtaking. The book is nicely printed on quality paper and bound in signatures for strength. I found this book worth every penny of the price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Room for improvement..., January 6, 2010

By 

David B. Searles II - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Time Museum Historical Catalogue of American Pocket Watches (Hardcover)

From the antique watch expert's perspective, this book has value as a reference but is not definitive. Only 165 of 375 watches in the catalog are photographed. There is some very good information along with clearly incorrect information or speculation. Treatments of many topics are incomplete. The Time Museum's American collection was not complete in any sense of the word to begin with. In the author's defense, scholarship and data have improved considerably since 1991, the American watch collecting community has always been starved for information, and what information has been published in the past has nearly always been profoundly flawed.

Rudimentary organizational concepts of the book fail to capture the basic categories that thrill collectors and define markets: the division into "jeweled, dollar and cheap" as a paradigm for the industry is troublesome if not repugnant, as most "cheap" grades are jeweled inclusive of some dollar grades. One cannot classify entire companies in this manner, since many major companies tried to compete at many economic levels. Collectors are thrilled with early, rare, unique or experimental American watches, colonial to pre-Civil War contract imports, Civil War period Waltham watches, railroad grade watches, "top" or "best" grade non-railroad products in all model and factory lines, massively or uniquely cased watches, highly decorative aesthetic watches, watches as Americana, and the highly efficient and fun designs of economy or dollar watch lines. In addition there are very interesting hybrid watches where foreign and domestic industries and makers met, such as in the important and exquisite work of Albert Potter.

There are profound errors in the book, such as the characterization of Goddard family verges as simply being contract imports, when the cases were made here as well as the plates, gears and some decorative elements. Only a few components were imported, and none were imported during the embargo of the War of 1812. Another watch from Keene, NH, is characterized as an import, where there is no such plate arrangement in any foreign manufacture, so there is clearly some US design and manufacture involved in the superficial English design of the watch. A 21 jewel "Centennial" type Waltham model 1872 "American Watch Co" grade (the best watch manufactured at the time) is listed as 17 jewel, where the escapement cap jewels are clearly visible in the photograph. The author perhaps relied on the factory catalog which lists the run as 17 jewel where many watches within the run were upgraded to the best quality. The highly desireable top grade Edward Howard 23 sapphire jewel limited edition is stuck at the end of the cheap watch category because of some association with the Keystone company, a jeweled manufacturer by the book's own definition. The most important and rare 16-size model 1872 crystal plate is barely described, while the far more common 4-size crystal plate adorns the cover of the book.

One can hope that the author will undertake a new edition at some point, reorganize and correct the material, and draw on many other sources and collections to create a truly difinitive, peer-reviewed treatise on the American watch topic, which would be well-received. In the meantime, there were some wonderful watches in this now de-accessioned collection, and some fine photographs with good historical information can be found in the book. The book can serve as inspiration for further study, as the novice reader will need to check its represented facts for its frequent errors and misconceptions.

For myself, the book is great fun as a means to look again at a few of the wonderful American watches I was fortunate enough to handle, discover, and sometimes sell, either directly or indirectly, to this wonderful museum. It is fortunate that some documentation exists in various publications, now that the entire horological museum collection has gone to many new owners.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Coffee Table Book, July 12, 2007

By 

Pauillac (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Time Museum Historical Catalogue of American Pocket Watches (Hardcover)

This is a beautifully presented book on the pocket watch collection of the Time Museum, but it is a catalogue and not a history of watches. If you like to look at the photos and movements of watches the presentation is very nice, but there is very little substance on the development of watches or the major manufacturers themselves.