Tracy, Baker & Co. — Waltham watch-factory partnership phase

Tracy, Baker & Co. was the brief 1857 Waltham watch-factory business phase following the Boston Watch Company’s insolvency and preceding Appleton, Tracy & Co.

Price identifies Royal Elisha Robbins, Eliashib Tracy and Theodore Baker in the factory acquisition venture.

The assignee’s factory auction was advertised for 9 May 1857; Robbins outbid Rice for the assets.

Baker sold his interest to Robbins on 30 June 1857 after disagreement over partnership terms; James W. Appleton joined.

Price distinguishes a July 17 newspaper renaming notice from September 1 in a later manuscript; the database’s June summary is less granular.

Price notes conflicting evidence on Tracy’s retained interest after leaving: Tracy’s recollection versus a cashbook-derived September 1858 buyout.

Price reports examining surviving Tracy, Baker movement number 5012 and associates the earliest signed examples with July 1857.

Price’s bibliography identifies Harvard’s Tracy, Baker sales ledger, O-1 volume 948; that original was not directly inspected for this batch.

This is an industrial-business identity, not evidence that Robbins personally made each watch or that a modern Waltham brand is legally continuous with the partnership.