I have been told that the early Howards (keystone) where fitted with Swiss made dials as the new company was not geared up to produce there own dials, these being marked Switzerland, & “H” on the rear of dial embedded into the porcelain.
Can anyone shed any light on this?, I know very little about Howards.

Hi Chris,

Based on what I know of their surviving early watches, I think it is true that Keystone Howard began putting out watches before their dial department came on line, and so these early Keystones did have Swiss dials. For that matter, some of the last E. Howard & Co. watches appear to have been put out with Swiss dials as well, as that company's dial department may have shut down earlier than other parts of the factory.

Hi Clint,

Thank you very much for your response. Whilst cleaning the watch I took these pictures below. The “Switzerland H” is part of the dial and proudly displayed, which would help confirm your comments above, I find this to be very interesting that a Swiss made dial is the correct dial, which is somewhat of a turn-around to normal expectations. Did this happen on any other American pocket watches?

P2

I also believe the hand to be original?

Great case, Howard with plain back.
Do I have a 100% correct watch, case, hands, movement and dial?.

Chris,

I believe that Seth Thomas also used, at times, Swiss dials as original..
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Hi John,

I never realized that there was any cases of Swiss parts being used on American watches as original items, up to now would have just dismissed them as replacement items. You never stop learning in this game.

I have also seen many Waltham and Illinois dress watches with original Swiss silver dials.

During the early years, say 1860 - 1880, American factories imported all sorts of specialty parts: springs, jewels, hands, steel, balances. By the 1880's most components could be made internally or obtained from domestic suppliers. After the crash of the 1890's, American watch companies were in such poor health that some would probably obtain material from the most economical source.

Mike

All,
It is a great pleasure to see that my friend and research colleague Mike Harrold has joined us on the 185 discussion site. At the risk of embarrasing him, I should like to point out to any newer NAWCC members who may not be aware of it, that Mike is almost certainly the most prolific contributor of his generation to the horological literature on American watchmaking. His monograph: "American Watchmaking, A Technical History," which is NAWCC Supplement #14, was a big influence on me when I began collecting, and it remains today the single best general reference on the subject. Great to see you, Mike!