Howard (E. Howard) Pocket Watch Serial Numbers

Howard serial numbers are engraved on the movement — the mechanism inside, not the metal case around it. Ease the back open, read the number off the plate, and type it into the box below for an instant year estimate.

Howard is the one American maker where dating by serial number needs a word of warning before you start. The company ran under several different owners across seventy years, changed its numbering more than once, and — unlike Waltham or Elgin — sold a great many of its movements uncased, to be fitted into a case chosen by the retailer or the customer. That last habit trips up more Howard owners than anything else, and it is worth understanding before you read anything into the number you have found.

Serial Number Table — Howard 1858–1930

Two Numbers, and No Relationship Between Them

Most Howards carry a number in the case as well as one on the movement, and confusing the two is the commonest reason an owner gets a date that makes no sense. The movement number is the one that dates the watch. The case number dates the case, and on a Howard that is genuinely a different object with a different history.

The case number belongs to whoever made the case, which for a Howard was very often a completely separate firm — Keystone, Fahys, Dueber or a jobbing jeweller. Because Howard supplied so many movements loose, a Howard case number and a Howard movement number have no relationship at all. A case made in 1905 sitting around a movement made in 1898 is not evidence of tampering; it is simply how these watches were sold.

Telling the two apart is easier on a Howard than on most American watches, because a Howard movement announces itself. The plate you are looking for carries a good deal besides the number: the firm's name in full, a letter size, and on later watches a Series marking in Roman numerals. If the number you have found sits in that company, it is the movement number and it is the one that dates the watch. A number floating on a plain metal surface with nothing horological around it is a case number.

Reading Your Howard Beyond the Date

Howard used a numbering system all of its own, and knowing which era your watch belongs to tells you more than the year alone.

The Boston era (roughly 1858–1902) covers watches marked E. Howard & Co., made in Roxbury, Massachusetts. These are the watches collectors generally mean by “a real Howard”. They were expensive when new, finished to a standard well above the ordinary factory watch, and produced in relatively small numbers — barely 100,000 movements in the first thirty years, against millions at Waltham over the same period. Scarcity is a large part of why Howards hold their value.

Howard also refused to use the standard American sizing convention. Where every other maker described a watch as 18-size or 16-size, Howard used letter sizes — G, H, I, J, K, L, M and N — with N roughly equivalent to the usual 18-size. If a seller describes a Howard by a number size, they are converting, and possibly guessing.

From 1903 the name was bought by the Keystone Watch Case Company, and watches from then on are marked E. Howard Watch Co. — a different company using an old and respected name. These Keystone-era Howards are good watches, but they are not Boston Howards, and the market prices them accordingly. The wording on the movement is the quickest way to tell which you have.

Finally, look for a Series marking, given in Roman numerals from I to XI. The series tells you the movement's design generation and grade. Series XI, Howard's 21-jewel railroad-grade movement, is the one most sought after; the earlier split-plate designs are prized for their finish rather than their accuracy.

What the Year Will Not Tell You

Owners often arrive at a date and assume the hard part is done. It is not. Two Howards finished in the same month can be ten times apart in price, and nothing in the serial number hints at which one you are holding.

What matters far more is grade and jewel count — a 23-jewel Series XI against a modest 15-jewel movement is a different watch entirely; the case, since a solid gold Howard case is a substantial object in its own right and gold-filled cases sell for a fraction of the price; originality, meaning an untouched dial with no hairlines, hands of the correct pattern, and a movement that has not been re-plated or over-polished; and whether it runs, cleanly and to time, which on a watch of this quality is expensive to put right if it does not.

Dates near the edges of the table deserve particular caution. Howard's output was small and irregular, batches overlapped, and movements sometimes sat unsold for years before being cased and retailed. Treat any result as accurate to within two or three years rather than to the month, and treat very early or very late serials as approximate.

For a fuller picture of what drives price, see our guides to movement grades and jewel counts and pocket watch values. If you intend to sell or insure the watch, the appraisal guide explains when a formal valuation is worth the cost.

More on Howard Watches

The E. Howard & Co. history page covers the company's founding, Edward Howard's role in the birth of American factory watchmaking, and the models worth seeking out. Because Howard movements were so often sold loose, the guide to cases and hallmarks is unusually useful for this maker.

Other Serial Number Tables

• Waltham serial numbers
• Hamilton serial numbers
• Illinois serial numbers
• Hampden serial numbers

There is also the serial number lookup app, free and installable, which holds every maker's table on your phone and needs no connection once loaded.