Roxbury, Massachusetts, United States · 1813 – 1904
Edward Howard
VerifiedIndustrialised watch and precision clock manufacturing
Life & work
Edward Howard trained under Aaron Lufkin Dennison and became a co-founder of the enterprise, through several corporate reorganisations, that developed the American system of machine-made watch manufacture and eventually became the Waltham Watch Company. After the venture's early financial difficulties and reorganisation, Howard separated from the Waltham lineage and established his own firm, E. Howard & Co., in Roxbury, Massachusetts, producing high-grade watches, precision tower and regulator clocks, and later scales and other precision instruments.
E. Howard & Co. became particularly known for railroad-grade and high-jewel-count watches and for large public tower clocks installed in American civic buildings, maintaining a reputation for quality distinct from, though commercially smaller than, the mass-market volume of Waltham and Elgin. Howard's watches are generally understood as a premium, lower-volume American product line compared with the larger industrial output of his former partners' firm.
The E. Howard name and trademark passed through several later owners after Edward Howard's own retirement and death, and, as with other historic American names, twentieth-century products bearing the Howard name should be understood as belonging to a later corporate phase distinct from Edward Howard's own nineteenth-century workshop.
Timeline
Edward Howard's recorded dates, dated events from this profile and its sources, and dated pieces and sales from the object catalogue. Dates are as each record gives them.
1813 · Career
Born
1904 · Career
Died
Training, contributions & innovations
- Co-founded the enterprise that became the Waltham Watch Company alongside Aaron Lufkin Dennison
- Established E. Howard & Co., producing high-grade watches and precision tower/regulator clocks
- Contributed to the broader development of American industrial precision manufacturing beyond watches alone
Inventions & patents
- No single mechanism patent defines Howard's reputation; his significance lies in manufacturing organisation and product quality rather than a specific patented invention, and no invented patent numbers are given here.
Signatures & markings on surviving work
- Watches and clocks signed 'E. Howard & Co., Boston' or 'E. Howard, Roxbury, Mass.'
Collecting significance
E. Howard & Co. watches and tower clocks are a respected American collecting category distinct from Waltham production; buyers should note the firm's several later changes of ownership when dating a piece bearing the Howard name.
Firms, key models & movements
Firms
- American Waltham Watch Company · 1850 (as predecessor firms)
- E. Howard & Co. · 1858 (under the Howard name, following earlier partnerships)
- E. Howard Watch Company (Keystone era) · 1902
- E. Howard Watch Co. (Keystone) · 1858
- Howard Miller · 1926
Key models (as recorded for the firm)
- waltham-model-1883
- Model 1857
- Vanguard
- Riverside Maximus
- Series I to Series XI watch grades
- Astronomical and jeweller's regulators
Movements
- Waltham Riverside Maximus · Late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century
Famous objects
- E. Howard & Co. Astronomical Regulator Clocks · Produced from the mid-19th century onward
In the object catalogue
1 catalogued object is recorded under Edward Howard. Attributions are as given by each source and are not independent authentication.
- Edward Howard silver 'spider watch' pocket watchVerge & pair-cased watch · 17/1800s
Provenance
Where the 1 catalogued piece by Edward Howard was recorded, with the collectors, owners and sales their records name.
Provenance map
Each piece is linked to the museum, auction house or dealer whose record it comes from, and to any other house or collection its own provenance names. Select a name to see its pieces.
Auction houses · 1 piece
Auctionet
Auction house · 1 piece
Edward Howard silver 'spider watch' pocket watchVerge & pair-cased watch · 17/1800s · Record source
Auctionet: lot 576044
Auction history
| House | Sale & lot | Object |
|---|---|---|
| Auctionet | lot 576044 | Edward Howard silver 'spider watch' pocket watch |
Each line is copied from the object's source record and is not independently verified. Holders are as recorded when the piece was catalogued: museum objects may not be on display, and sold lots have since changed hands.
Photographs
Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.
Sources & references
- Crossman, C. S., A Complete History of Watch and Clock Making in America
- NAWCC historical records on E. Howard & Co.
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.