Enjoy Watches

Brand history & owner guide

Howard & Davis

Howard & Davis was the Boston-area partnership of Edward Howard and David P. Davis, distinct from later Howard watch-company names. 1

This profile covers the maker’s identity, history and documented work. A complete model catalogue is being researched separately.

At a glance

Subject
Historical Business 1
Documented work
Howard & Davis precision balance, Heritage lot 43214 13
Documented work
Howard & Davis fire-engine maker plate, 1852 3

Before the pocket watch: the clocks, balances and engines of Howard & Davis

Clockmaking formed part of a broader business that also produced precision balances and fire engines. RailsWest places Dennison, Howard and Davis’s 1849 watchmaking experiments in Howard’s Roxbury factory.

The associated Boston Watch Company was not simply another name for Howard & Davis. E. Howard & Company succeeded the partnership’s clock business in 1857.

This clock-and-instrument partnership preceded Edward Howard’s later watch-manufacturing work. 1342

The work and why it matters

Howard & Davis was the Boston-area partnership of Edward Howard and David P. Davis, distinct from later Howard watch-company names. The partnership began in 1842; Davis’s departure in 1857 ended the Howard & Davis business style.

Smithsonian’s Warshaw collection has a Howard & Davis, Boston, Massachusetts, folder. A Smithsonian fire-engine plate bears the Howard & Davis name, Boston location and year 1852. 123

People, production and attribution

The documented partnership made clocks and instruments; its shared participants do not make every subsequent Howard or Waltham watch its product. 1

Ownership and continuity

Howard & Davis was the Boston-area partnership of Edward Howard and David P. Davis, distinct from later Howard watch-company names. 1

Watchmakers and designers linked to Howard & Davis

These people have a sourced relationship to this brand in the Enjoy Watches register. The label beside each name states the relationship recorded; it should not be read as a broader employment or ownership claim.

Identification and service

For an individual watch, record the complete reference, serial, dial, case, and movement markings and compare them with dated primary documentation.

A brand history cannot authenticate, appraise, or establish the provenance of a particular watch.

Evidence and limits

How the claims are supported
  1. reasonable inference

    Howard & Davis was the Boston-area partnership of Edward Howard and David P. Davis, distinct from later Howard watch-company names.

  2. verified fact

    The partnership began in 1842; Davis’s departure in 1857 ended the Howard & Davis business style.

  3. verified fact

    Smithsonian’s Warshaw collection has a Howard & Davis, Boston, Massachusetts, folder.

  4. verified fact

    Clockmaking formed part of a broader business that also produced precision balances and fire engines.

  5. verified fact

    A Smithsonian fire-engine plate bears the Howard & Davis name, Boston location and year 1852.

  6. source stated claim

    RailsWest places Dennison, Howard and Davis’s 1849 watchmaking experiments in Howard’s Roxbury factory.

  7. reasonable inference

    The associated Boston Watch Company was not simply another name for Howard & Davis.

  8. verified fact

    E. Howard & Company succeeded the partnership’s clock business in 1857.

  9. reasonable inference

    The documented partnership made clocks and instruments; its shared participants do not make every subsequent Howard or Waltham watch its product.

  10. reasonable inference

    This clock-and-instrument partnership preceded Edward Howard’s later watch-manufacturing work.

Known limits

  • Which individually accessioned Howard & Davis clock best illustrates the partnership’s horological output?
  • Are original partnership agreements and asset-transfer terms available?
  • Is a historical business website or authenticated present successor site applicable?
  • This identity dossier is not a complete catalogue of every watch or reference.

Direct sources

  1. Rare Gold Standard Balance Scale by Howard and Davis of BostonHeritage Auctions · auction object catalogue · accessed September 15, 2026

    Locator: Relevant passage identified in the supplied research record. External source.

  2. Howard & Davis, Boston, MassachusettsSmithsonian National Museum of American History · archival finding aid · accessed September 15, 2026

    Locator: Relevant passage identified in the supplied research record. External source.

  3. Fire Engine Plate, Howard and DavisSmithsonian National Museum of American History · museum object catalogue · accessed September 15, 2026

    Locator: Relevant passage identified in the supplied research record. External source.

  4. E. Howard & Co., Roxbury, MARailsWest / DigitalNetExpress · specialist historical research · accessed September 15, 2026

    Locator: Relevant passage identified in the supplied research record. External source.

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