This watch is an enigma. It is identical to the Warren and Curtis range of watches from the Boston Watch Co. with the exception of stop works on the barrel. The serial number could correspond to Curtis 170 with private label markings for John Warren who lived in Milton Massachusetts.
No connection is known between John Warren and the Boston Watch Co. However, there was a Andrew Warren who was prominent among the early Boston Watch Co. group in Waltham. Andrew Warren was on the Committee on Clocks, Watches, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, etc. of the Agricultural & Industrial Fair in 1857. The other committee members were Charles W. Fogg, Edward Howard, Aaron L. Dennison, M. P. Alexander, Henry Wyman and Nelson P. Stratton. One possibility is that Andrew Warren was related and the watch was produced as a gift for John Warren.
There were a number of Warrens on the tax rolls of Waltham. These included in the July 1856 accounting: Josiah Warren, Nehemiah Warren, Royal S. Warren and Samuel D. Warren. This was also the year that the Boston Watch Company in Waltham took a prize for their showing in the Mechanics Fair that was visited by 100,000 people. The Boston Watch Co. employed 70 people in the year 1855.
