a harwood "bumper" self-winding watch from 1923 stays wound for 12 hours.
a harwood "bumper" self-winding watch from 1923 stays wound for 12 hours.
how long does a harwood "bumper" self-winding watch from 1923 stay wound?
12 hours
when fully wound, harwood's watch would run for 12 hours autonomously. it did not have a conventional stem winder, so the hands were moved manually by rotating a bezel around the face of the watch. the watches were first produced with the help of swiss watch manufacturer fortis and went on sale in 1928. 30,000 were made before the harwood self-winding watch company collapsed in 1931 in the great depression. 'bumper' watches were the first commercially successful automatic watches; they were made by several high grade watch manufacturers during the 1930s and 1940s.









































section::::history.:wrist watches.:rolex.
automatic watch
in 1923, supported by a local businessman, he developed a self-winding wristwatch and applied for a patent in switzerland, 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 brothers, louis and philip alexander, he persuaded swiss watch manufacturers anton schild s.a. and walter vogt of fortis to manufacture the design. blancpain 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. the watches were first shown at the basel 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 watches also proved difficult to mass-produce and very delicate in use.
john harwood (watchmaker)