American system of watch manufacturing

Henry Pitkin and his brother James were jewelry makers in Hartford, Connecticut in the mid-1830s before their business failed as a result of the panic of 1837 and they turned their attention to the manufacture of watches.

The two formed plans to construct a line of watches with interchangeable parts based on Dennison’s visit to the Springfield armory.

They built a factory in Roxbury, with financial backing provided by Samuel Curtis and DP Davis (a partner of Howard in his clock business).

The generally high price of watches allowed for a large investment in research and development, which was aimed toward the reduction of labor costs.

[citation needed] Watches require very strict production tolerances and very few manufacturing defects, making labor cost reduction difficult.

Other products made via armory practices, such as firearms and sewing machines, generally have much looser tolerances than are necessary for watchmaking, which involves numerous tiny gears that must fit together precisely.

The intent of applying armory practices to watchmaking was to emphasize tight tolerances in the manufacturing of the component parts, so that final assembly could be done by lesser-skilled workers without the need for an expert watchmaker to personally oversee each step of manufacture.