.JPG "Rare 18K Harwood - world's 1st Automatic watch c1920's")
Status: Not Available – SOLD
This is a rare self winding bumper movement Harwood wristwatch in 18k gold which was presented to Herbert Peck Fales of the US State Department circa 1928. The first self winding wristwatch was invented and patented in 1923 by John Harwood, a watchmaker from the Isle of Man, UK. Harwood designed the self winding watch without a wind/set crown, it is set by turning the bezel. The company was not very successful, a good idea at a bad time is one explanation, and after only a few years closed their doors in 1931 with the onset of the great depression, and having only produced 30,000 watches (very few in 18k gold cases). As is often the case some of the biggest failures of the past result in today’s rarest collectable watches. With the failure of the company, the patent expired and other companies were now free to enter the market, Rolex modified and improved the Harwood design and it was the basis of their first automatic movement. This Harwood watch has just been serviced by our watchmaker and is in excellent working condition for a watch of it’s age. To set the watch turn the bezel which engages the set gears, after setting it is important to disengage the gears by turning the bezel in the opposite direction until a red dot appears in the round aperture above the numeral 6. The small size is typical of men’s watches of this era, watch is suitable also for women.
Photos are not actual size of watch, the case measures 29 mm across x 37 mm lug to lug and is fit with a new leather bracelet.
The first self winding wristwatch was invented in 1923 by a watch repairer from the Isle of Man named John Harwood. He took out a UK patent with his financial backer, Harry Cutts from Cheshire, on 7 July 1923, and a corresponding Swiss patent on 16 October 1923. The Harwood system used a semi circular weight that pivoted at the centre of the movement and swung through a 300 degree arc as the wearer moved his wrist or arm, and through a train of gears wound the mainspring. This was called a “bumper” design because the weight ran into a spring bumper at the end of its 300 degree travel, which the wearer could feel. When fully wound, the watch would run for only 12 hours, which was obviously a serious drawback. It did not have a conventional stem winder, so the hands were moved manually by rotating a bezel around the face of the watch.
They formed the Harwood Self-Winding Watch Company and commissioned the Swiss firms Fortis and A. Schild to make the watches using the Adolf Schild Calibre Cal. 350 as the base movement. The watches went on sale in 1928. They were not a runaway success in the market, and only some 30,000 were made in total. However, the presence of the patent meant that from 1923 no one else could develop a similar or improved version, so progress was essentially halted at a time when the wristwatch was becoming more and more popular. The Harwood company collapsed in 1931 during the Great Depression and, although the patent still existed, there was no one to exercise it so other companies were free to develop their own versions.
Emile Borer, son in law of the Aegler family and head of research and development at the Rolex Bienne factory, took up the Harwood design and used it as the basis for the “auto rotor” of the Rolex caliber 620 Oyster Perpetual. He improved the design so that the centrally mounted semi-circular weight became a rotor which could rotate smoothly through a full 360 degrees and was able to turn both clockwise and counter clockwise, rather than running the 300 degrees and then hitting the bumpers of the Harwood design.