← All brands

E. Howard & Co.

United States · Founded 1858 · No longer in production

This entry primarily catalogues the historic 19th-century E. Howard & Co., founded 1858 in Roxbury (Boston), Massachusetts, by Edward Howard (1813-1904) and Charles Rice, following the 1857 collapse of the Boston Watch Co. (successor to the 1850 American Horologue Co., where Howard had partnered with Aaron L. Dennison on the venture that became Waltham). Howard bought out Rice in 1858 and ran the firm independently; it was reorganized several times (Howard Watch and Clock Co., 1861; Howard Watch & Clock Co., 1863; E. Howard Watch and Clock Co., 1881) but watches stayed signed 'E. Howard & Co.' Edward Howard retired in 1882; regular watchmaking ceased in 1903; he died in 1904. The 'Howard' name/trademark has since passed through several UNRELATED commercial hands, catalogued here as separate models rather than one continuous history: (1) 1903-1927, Keystone Watch Case Co. bought the Howard Watch Co. name and built new, differently-designed movements at the former U.S. Watch Co. plant in Waltham ('Keystone Howard'); (2) 1927, Hamilton Watch Co. bought the Howard trademarks outright, finishing about a dozen pocket watches on its own grade 917 movement in 1939 and roughly 1,000+ wristwatches on its grade 980 movement in 1942 and 1946-49; (3) 1994-present, La Crosse Technology (La Crosse Clock Co.) owns the name for mass-market quartz/radio-controlled 'atomic' watches, unrelated to fine watchmaking; (4) a reported 2012 high-end mechanical-wristwatch revival by 'EHWC, Inc.' could not be corroborated beyond one sourced timeline entry - ehoward.com was unreachable (connection refused) during this resea [Verified: no evidence supports a Chicago-based modern revival. The one traceable 2010s revival attempt is EHWC, Inc. / Kevin Brown (owner of Brown Innovations, a Boston-area audio-tech company) acquiring the trademark circa 2011-2012 with the stated intent to build in Boston -- no evidence it ever reached market. Do not treat this as a Chicago-based in-house-movement brand.]