Henry Pitkin
Encyclopedia
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
and watchmaker
Watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since virtually all watches are now factory made, most modern watchmakers solely repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their parts, by hand...
of Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
.
Life
Pitkin with his brothers John, Walter, and James had a successful jewelry manufacturing business in Hartford, Connecticut. The Pitkins were known to have outstanding mechanical ability. Pitkin and his two older brothers, John and Walter, had been apprenticed as silversmiths and watch repairmen, probably under Jacob Sargeant of Hartford. However, due to the depression following the Panic of 1837Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
, they eventually closed their jewelry business in the later part of the 1830s.
The Pitkin brothers were already developing a watch they hoped could be successfully mass produced via partial automation of the process. Pitkin came up with the idea of making pocket watches by mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
methods using mechanical manufacturing equipment. Pitkin with his brothers designed and built the machine apparatus's themselves for their automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
of pocket watch manufacture. Pitkin was the inventor of the American lever watch
Lever escapement
The lever escapement is a key component of the typical movement found in most mechanical wristwatches, pocket watches and many small mechanical non-pendulum clocks....
movement for pocket watch
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
es.
Mass production of Pitkin watches began in 1836. Pitkin with his brother designed the first American pocket watches containing the first American machine made parts. The Pitkin Watch Company was the first to mass produce pocket watches in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Pitkin's pocket watches had an excellent reputation for being accurate and durable. The plates for the Pitkins pocket watches were punched out with stamping dies but many times had to be finished to close tolerances by hand. The movements were three-quarter plate, slow train, and about the diameter of the modern 16-size pocket watch. The watch cases they made themselves from gold and silver. They imported from Europe many of the dials, hands, hair springs and balance jewels needed for their watches, even though they tried to avoid using foreign made parts. Pitkin named the first fifty movements after himself, however after that the name H & J. F. Pitkin was used. They did not engrave the place of their production shop on their watches, however the words Detached Lever were put on the balance bridge. Pitkin and his brother made about 800 watches between 1836 and 1841.
There were cheaper imported watches made by the Swiss so they struggled to keep the business afloat. In 1841 the company moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in hopes for a better market. The cost to manufacture the movements was too great to compete with the Swiss watches and other imports. In 1846 Pitkin had a nervous breakdown and committed suicide. His brother James died a few years later. An employee of the Pitkin brothers by the name of Amariah Hells continued the business until 1852. Pitkin started the trend of making pocket watches of mass production by automation.