waltham pocket watch
The Waltham Pocket Watch company of Waltham, Massachusetts, began in 1857 after the acquisition of a failed watch company by Royal E. Robbins. By 1881, Waltham was thriving, as reported in the Scientific American newspaper:
“There are 3 1/4 miles of work benches, mostly made of cherry plank, 2 feet wide and 2 inches thick. There are 4,700 pulleys; 8,000 feet of wall rods; 10,000 feet of main shafting, and 39,000 feet of belting, varying in width from 2 inches to 2 feet. All this machinery is driven by Corliss engine of 125 horse power.
When Mr. Robbins took hold of what was then regarded as a forlorn enterprise, only 5000 watches had been made in all. Now over 2,500,000 have been made thus far at this one factory, of which 500,000 were made during the last eighteen months! The present capacity of the works is 1,250 Waltham pocket watches daily, which by recent improvements will soon be increased to 2,000. There have actually been sent out 30,000 in a single month, and 30,000 watches are needed all the time in the finishing rooms to enable the hands to work to advantage.”