John Harwood

John Harwood was born in Bolton, Lancashire; his family home was a pork butcher's shop on Blackburn Road.^1, 7

In the First World War he served as an armoury staff sergeant, where he worked on an automatic pistol and an impact screwdriver.^1, 7

After the war he served a watchmaking apprenticeship with Hirst Brothers and Co. of Oldham, and in 1922 moved to the Isle of Man to open a watch repair business.^1, 7

With his backer Harry Cutts he filed British patent 218,487 on 7 July 1923, 'Improvements relating to wrist watches': an automatic weight swung by the wearer's movement winds the mainspring, with spring buffers and a friction clutch to prevent overwinding.^2, 8

The Swiss patent, no. 106583, was filed on 16 October 1923 and published on 1 September 1924; its claim is a case 'whose walls have no opening' holding an oscillating weight.^1, 4, 9

His American patent, granted on 9 March 1926 to 'John Harwood, of Baldrine, Lonan, Isle of Man', explains the aim: with no winding stem through the case, the case becomes 'practically dust and waterproof'.³

Without a crown, the hands were set by turning the bezel, and a red dot in the dial showed when the setting gear was engaged; a Harwood of about 1928 in the Clockmakers' collection shows both.^2, 10

Harwood's weight swung through a limited arc between spring buffers, the type now called a 'bumper' or 'hammer' automatic; Wikipedia gives about 12 hours of reserve, and the US patent says the spring would run 'say 9 to 12 hours'.^3, 4, 8

Swiss industry made it. Fortis says Walter Vogt took up the invention and that the first Fortis Harwood automatics left the factory on 13 July 1926; Wikipedia adds that the movement maker A. Schild was involved and that the watches were shown at the Basel Fair in 1926; the Swiss dictionary records an automatic calibre made at Grenchen in 1926.^1, 4, 5

Wikipedia says Blancpain made the watches under licence for France from 1928 and the Perpetual Self-Winding Watch Company for North America; the Bolton directory says they were sold in the US as 'Perpetual'. A patent of 1929 in the name of the Perpetual Self Winding Watch Co. appears in the Swiss register.^1, 7, 11

He set up the Harwood Self-Winding Watch Company in 1928 to sell in Britain; it failed in 1931 in the Depression. Wikipedia and Fortis put production at about 30,000 watches; the Clockmakers' example of about 1928 has 'Harwood Self Winding Watch Co. Ltd' on its weight.^{1, 4, 8, 10}

Who made the first automatic wristwatch is disputed. Fortis calls the Harwood the first serially produced; Rolex calls its 1931 Perpetual rotor the world's first self-winding mechanism with a Perpetual rotor; Glycine's Meylan module of 1930 is called the first widely produced; Léon Leroy is credited with a side-weight wrist system in 1922.^{4, 8, 12, 13}

Harwood disputed Rolex's claim to be first, and Rolex published a correction, in the Sunday Express in 1956 by Fortis's account; the Bolton directory also records an apology.^4, 7

Whether Harwood knew the eighteenth-century self-winding watches is not known, Wikipedia notes.⁸

In 1957 the British Horological Institute awarded him its Gold Medal.^1, 7