Maiden Lane . . . a familiar name to those who have some acquaintance with the history of the American watch industry.

Maiden Lane . . . long ago a quiet path along the banks of a meandering creek in the old Dutch colony of Manhattan Island. By the mid nineteenth century, this path was the center of the jewelry trade in New York City and, for that matter, the entire United States.

From the docks on the East River to Broadway, running parallel with Wall Street just a few blocks away, this narrow street with the distinctive bend had a great influence on the growing domestic watch trade.

Wholesale jobbers and supply houses, as well as retail jewelry firms, dominated “The Lane.”  Every American watch producer maintained an office on this street, or on one nearby. The Seth Thomas Watch Company named one of their premier models “Maiden Lane.”

Some time ago, I was shown an 18-size watch with the name of a New York company inscribed on the dial. This was intriguing to me and became more so after a brief inspection.

Though the dial was dirty enough to disguise the cracks in the enamel, the name, in beautiful script, was still quite legible—Cha. S. Crossman and Co., New York. As private label watches always interested me, I looked for further clues.

The hunting case appeared to be gold filled, with its share of dents and dings, but with an interesting figure on the inside case back—a gentleman in top hat and tails, holding a walking stick. Around this fellow appeared the words, “The Dandy, C.S. Crossman and Co., 23 Maiden Lane, N.Y.”  This was probably the model name of the case, the movement, or perhaps both.

The outside of the case had a pleasing floral and shield pattern on both covers, with an attractive waterside building en-graved on the back cover shield. The only other marking observed was a serial number, 593004, found on the inside of the cover, on the case ring, and on the inside of the back dust cover.

The  full-plate movement appeared to be American in origin. The visible markers were a serial number, 274202, and the cryptic words “Our Own.”

I did not hesitate to purchase the watch, thinking it would be an interesting project, with the bonus of a Maiden Lane address. An interesting project it proved to be. Among other minor problems, there was a broken case cover lift spring, no crystal, bent hands, both pivots on the balance staff were broken, along with both balance hole jewels and the mainspring. Throw in a fair amount of dirt throughout, and it looked to be a real piece of work.

The movement proved to be a Rockford model eight, 15j, stem wind, hunting, lever set, with a “Teske’s Patent Regulator.” The serial number dates the movement to the 1886-87 time period.¹

Like other watches, when first acquired in rough condition, this one was placed in a drawer of my bench, and there it languished for some time.

The Crossman name was puzzling, till the friend who showed me the watch suggested that someone named Crossman had written a book, The Complete History of Watch making in America. I had read this book before and proceeded to borrow it from the NAWCC Library for a second time. I discovered that the chapters in this book had originally been published as a series of articles, from 1886 to 1891, in the trade journal, Jewelers’ Circular and Horological Review.

Mr. Crossman was a talented writer, and his research was amazing, considering the only high-speed method of communication in the 1880s was the telegraph. Crossman must have traveled the country gathering his extensive information, which included interviews with some of the people who helped found the American watch industry. He also demonstrated a good working knowledge of watch manufacturing and repairing.

Reading Mr. Crossman’s book inspired the parts search for this ever more interesting watch. Soon, the case was cleaned, the crystal was installed, and the movement was ticking. Now was the time to track down information on Charles S. Crossman and 23 Maiden Lane.

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