Jones & Horan Achieve World Record Price For American Pocket Watch

GOFFSTOWN, N.H - Jones & Horan's June 2 auction totaled more than $1.7 million, but the news of the day was the sale of a Howard, Davis & Dennison serial No 3 pocket watch, which hammered at $300,000, tidily outpacing its $80/160,000 estimate.

Bidding began at $65,000 from online bidders, but in the end, it came down to two bidders in the room competing against an unidentified bidder on the telephone, who would ultimately prevail That sale price would set a record for an American pocket watch, besting the $266,500 record achieved at Sotheby's on October 17, 2008, for a Waltham Watch company pocket watch from the Time Museum The watch sold by Jones & Horan was among the first watches produced by the Warren Manufacturing Company in Roxbury, Mass, which was the forerunner of the Waltham and Howard watch companies.

The watches with the first three serial numbers - 1, 2 and 3 - were made in 1852 and given to the founders of the company: Edward Howard, Aaron Dennsion and David Davis A representative for Jones & Horan said that watch No 1 - Howard's watch - is in the collection of the Smithsonian while watch #2 - Dennison's watch - had been in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum in Deerborn, Mich, before the Waltham Watch museum acquired it.

It is believed that this watch originally belonged to David Davis. . Source