[1] By 1880, the Waterbury Watch Company, not to be confused with the Waterbury Clock Company, had lowered costs to the point where they could sell their so-called long wind watch for $3.50.
[4] Later, Western Clock (Westclox) in 1899 and the E. Ingraham Company also began manufacturing them.
Dollar watches were practical, mass-produced timepieces intended to be as inexpensive as possible.
Features of dollar watches were their simple, rugged design, movement (usually with a pin-pallet escapement, although sometimes with duplex escapements) which has either no jewels or just one jewel, width of about eighteen size (2 inches (51 mm)), and sale price of about a dollar from 1892 until the mid-1950s.
[1] To keep costs down, the watches were often sold in flimsy cardboard boxes, which are now highly collectible.