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John Harwood (1893–1964) was a British watchmaker who invented a self-winding wristwatch.


Early life

Harwood was born in Bolton, Lancashire. During World War I he served as an armoury
staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, superv ...
, developing an automatic pistol and a
screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...
whose blade turned on impact.


Career

After the war he served a watchmaking apprenticeship with Hirst Brothers and Co of
Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
. In 1922 he moved to the
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to set up his own watch repair business. In 1923, supported by a local businessman, he developed a self-winding wristwatch and applied for a
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, which was granted in September, 1924. His design ensured that the watch could be hermetically sealed against the ingress of water or dust. The hands could be reset by a rotating bezel. After four years, supported by funds from two
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
brothers, Louis and Philip Alexander, he persuaded
Swiss watch Swiss made is a label or marking used to indicate that a product was made on the territory of Switzerland. It is also a geographical indication protected under different Swiss and international laws and treaties. According to the Swiss Federal Ac ...
manufacturers Anton Schild S.A. and Walter Vogt of Fortis to manufacture the design.
Blancpain Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Swi ...
also made them under licence in 1928 for sale in France and the Perpetual Self-Winding Watch Company manufactured them for sale in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the C ...
. The watches were first shown at the
Basel Basel ( , ), also known as Basle ( ),french: Bâle ; it, Basilea ; rm, label= Sutsilvan, Basileia; other rm, Basilea . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich a ...
Fair in 1926. He set up the Harwood Self-Winding Watch Company in 1928 to market the watches in the UK, but the company failed in September 1931, not having sufficient financial resources to withstand the effects of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The Financial contagion, ...
. The watches also proved difficult to mass-produce and very delicate in use.


Awards and honours

In 1957 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the
British Horological Institute The British Horological Institute (BHI) is the representative body of the horological industry in the United Kingdom. It was founded by a group of clockmakers in 1858, and has its current premises at Upton Hall in Nottinghamshire, which inclu ...
.


Trivia

John Harwood had a son, John (d. 13 August 2019), who followed his father's career, becoming too, a horologist, initially in Harrow, Middlesex, before moving to Dunster, Somerset, where he maintained a shop for many years.


References


External links


Harwood Watch Co
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harwood, John 1893 births 1964 deaths People from Bolton British Army personnel of World War I English watchmakers (people) American emigrants to the United Kingdom