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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Springfield, Massachusetts, then Canton, Ohio, United States

Hampden Watch Company

Partially verified

Mid- and high-grade American pocket watch movements

History

Hampden moved from Massachusetts to Canton, Ohio, produced a broad range of grades including railroad-quality movements, and after closure its plant and machinery were sold abroad, where they contributed to the beginning of Soviet watch manufacture.

Major innovations

  • Broad grade range built on a small number of plate layouts

Known markings

  • 'Hampden Watch Co.'
  • 'Dueber-Hampden'
  • Grade names on the bridges

Serial numbers

Published serial ranges give approximate dates; the Springfield and Canton periods must be distinguished when dating a movement.

Collecting significance

Underappreciated relative to Hamilton and Elgin, which keeps high-grade Hampden movements comparatively accessible to researchers.

Photographs

Dueber-Hampden Watch Factory - Canton
Dueber-Hampden Watch Factory - Canton — Henry Howe, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
Employees, Dueber Hampden Watch Works, Canton, Ohio, Sept. 20, 1913 LCCN2007661688
Employees, Dueber Hampden Watch Works, Canton, Ohio, Sept. 20, 1913 LCCN2007661688 — Unattributed Wikimedia Commons contributor, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
Deuber-Hampden Watch Works (14067316806)
Deuber-Hampden Watch Works (14067316806) — Miami University Libraries - Digital Collections, No restrictions. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. NAWCC serial number references for Hampden
  2. Accounts of the sale of plant to the Soviet Union vary in detail between sources.

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.