Charles Fasoldt (1818-1898) is one of the more peculiar individuals in American horology. Watchmakers in the decades after 1830 have been characterized as exhibiting "compulsive inventiveness" regarding escapement design (in Britten's Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers) and Paul Chamberlain describes Fasoldt's odd double-wheeled lever escapement as having only "novelty and complexity" to recommend it, adding, peevishly, that Fasoldt "persisted in its use for some thirty years". Apparently cantankerous as well as ceaselessly inventive, Fasoldt protected his so-called "Fasoldt Chronometer" with patents and patented several improvements (see list on pg. 428 in It's About Time), which allowed him to sue the Howard Watch Company for $2000 (his lawyer ran away with the money). Fasoldt's daughters made watch parts for him, but still his output was very low-- the best estimate is "over fifty" (Chamberlain, ibid). No two Fasoldt watches are identical, but it has always been assumed that all used a three-pallet/double wheel escapement. This watch is therefore highly unusual.

The patent on this watch, Feb. 10, 1859, disputes Baillie and others who date Fasoldt's watchmaking from 1861.