The Auburndale Watch Company

The paper examines an American attempt to produce a low-cost, machine-made pocket watch by describing a revolving-train design derived from the tourbillon idea, its patent models, and mechanical arrangement. It analyzes key technical faults—insufficient barrel bearings, irregular ring-gear teeth, and an impractical ratio of spring turns to running time—that caused erratic power transfer and limited duration. The account traces development efforts, patent assignments, production variations, and early market reception, including returns of defective pieces. It closes by extracting practical lessons about the trade-offs between simplified design, manufacturing capabilities of the period, and the reasons the experiment failed to yield a reliable economical watch.