The company started out in 1851 as the Warren Manufacturing Company and then in 1853 renamed to the Boston Watch Company. 1853 was also the year a new factory was build in Waltham, Massachusetts and production started at that factory in 1854. The company was sold out of bankruptcy and renamed Appleton Tracy & Company in May of 1857. In January of 1859 the Waltham Improvement Company merged with Appleton, Tracy & Company and formed the American Watch Company. In 1885 the company name changed to the American Waltham Watch Company and then in 1907 changed to Waltham Watch Company. Before the company went out of business in 1957 it formed a subsidiary in Switzerland called Waltham International SA which retains the rigthts to the Waltham trade name outside of North America.

If you want to do some reading and understand how American watch companies became a force in the global market you might want to download the free ebook The Watch Factories of America.