watch;
wrist-watch;
automaton watch
- Museum number
- 2018,8011.1
- Description
-
Automaton wrist-watch with represenation of Spiro Agnew on the dial.
Case
Silver-colour metal case with screw back. Unbreakable glass.
Dial
Round polychrome printed with representation of Spiro Agnew dressed in stars and stripes themed costume His arms are the hour and minutes hand, similarly printed. With simple seconds hand, painted red.
Movement
Club-tooth lever lever escapement. 17 jewels. Shockproof setting for balance wheel.
- Production date
- 1970 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Thickness: 9.60 millimetres (Thickness of case, glass to back)
-
Width: 361 millimetres (width of case)
- $Inscriptions
-
-
-
- Curator's comments
- The following obituary of Hale E. Dougherty, founder of the D.T.C., contains a good history of the firm: "Obituaries: Hale E. Dougherty, 71; Doctor Co-Created Spiro Agnew”, LA Times, 1/1/2003. [http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/01/local/me-dougherty1 accessed 23/5/2018]
Some keys points:
"Hale E. Dougherty, the Orange County physician whose sly sense of humor and entrepreneurial spirit inspired him and his wife to market a Spiro Agnew wristwatch that unexpectedly took the nation by storm in the early 1970s..."
"Dougherty's watch -- which lampooned Richard Nixon's first vice president and retailed for $14.95 -- became a fashion statement for political insiders and celebrities during turbulent times..."
"It started out as a practical joke, and it turned into a business," said the doctor's son Lawrence, one of 10 children. "It swept the country like wildfire. It was a great laugh for people who didn't like [Agnew]. But a lot of people thought the world of him, and they bought one too."
"They called their venture Dirty Time Co., based on the way a young neighbor mispronounced the family's name, and began shopping the Agnew watch to local retailers."
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Latest: 1 (May 2018) Condition on acquisition: The watch is in working, clean & stable general condition. It has be worn and has signs of minor wear: fine scratches all over the case, back & glass; the strap is dirty where it was in contact with skin.
- Acquisition date
- 14/5/2018
- Acquisition notes
- Quoted from Acquisition Form;
"I finished high school in Dec '69 in Krugersdorp South Africa & was accepted on an American field Service (AFS) scholarship to attend a year of high school in the USA. My placement came through around Feb/Mar 1970. From July 1970 I spent a year at the Santa Yney Valley Union High School in California living in Santa Yney with the Jamieson family. The watch was a farewell gift received towards the end of the academic year when I returned to South Africa. I cannot recall who it was from, but possibly from the student chairman of the school's AFS society."
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 2018,8011.1