Henry Pitkin

Henry Pitkin (2 January 1811 – 18 September 1846) was a silversmith and watchmaker of Hartford, Connecticut.

Life Pitkin, with his brothers John, Walter, and James had a successful jewelry manufacturing business in Hartford, Connecticut. The Pitkins were known to have outstanding mechanical ability. Pitkin and his two older brothers, John and Walter, had been apprenticed as silversmiths and watch repairmen, probably under Jacob Sargeant of Hartford. However, due to the depression following the Panic of 1837, they eventually closed their jewelry business in the later part of the 1830s.

Mass production of Pitkin watches began in 1836. Pitkin with his brother designed the first American pocket watches containing the first American machine-made parts. The Pitkin Watch Company was the first to mass-produce pocket watches in America. Pitkin's pocket watches had an excellent reputation for being accurate and durable. Pitkin and his brother made about 800 watches between 1836 and 1841.

There were cheaper imported watches made by the Swiss so they struggled to keep the business afloat. In 1841 the company moved to New York in hopes for a better market. The cost to manufacture the movements was too great to compete with the Swiss watches and other imports. In 1846 Pitkin had a nervous breakdown and committed suicide. His brother James died a few years later. An employee of the Pitkin brothers by the name of Amariah Hells continued the business until 1852. Pitkin started the trend of making pocket watches of mass production by automation.

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