In 1861, as the country entered the American Civil War, production stopped. The company decided to downsize to the lowest possible level to keep the factory open. It began producing a low cost watch called the William Ellery which was a "fad" with Union soldiers. They sold for $13 and by the end of the Civil War represented 45 percent of Waltham's sales. After the Civil War, the company became the main supplier of railroad chronometers to various railroads in North America and more than fifty other countries. In 1876, the company showed off the first automatic screw making machinery and obtained the first Gold Medal in a watch precision contest at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.