Dueber Hampden

The brand was created in 1877 after having stammered since 1864 after Donald J Mozart created the first watchmaking house and associated it in 1866 with Samuel Rice to create the New-York Watches C°. The house was bought in 1888 by John C Dueber, a box manufacturer sacrificed by the American antitrust law.

In 1890, Zenith's exactly contemporary firm in its creation manufactured 600 watches a year with 1000 employees. It then began to produce one of the most "beautiful" calibres in American industry, a 19-line movement with 23 jewels.

Dueber, who was an industrialist who wanted to control everything in his company and was reputed to be on the backs of his employees, sold the company in 1925 to Walter Vrettman who two years later sold the company and its tools and machinery to Amtorg, a Russian investment company. The company migrated to Russia in 1930.

It is likely that the equipment was used by Poljot among other equipment to make the famous Russian watches, but the most surprising thing is that these machines were still running in 1986, according to Henry Fried, professor of watchmaking at New York University, who said he had seen Dueber-Hampden equipment working in Chinese factories.
The firm which also manufactured the 17 rubies had the reputation of taking extreme care of its movements without being in an industrial logic of mass production. This was fatal to it. To manufacture 600 movements with 1000 people is very little compared to what the competition was doing.