Joseph Fahys (May 28, 1832 – December 11, 1915) was one of the first U.S.

watch case A usually clamshell case for a mechanical watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is ...

manufacturers. After emigrating from France, he went on to establish Joseph Fahys & Co., which at one time was the largest manufacturer of watch cases and one of the largest manufacturers of

silverware Silverware may refer to: * Household silver including **Tableware **Cutlery **Candlesticks *The work of a silversmith * Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...

in the United States. He was also the founder and first president of the Jewelers' Board of Trade, and the first president of the Watchcase Manufacturers' Association.

Early years

Fahys was born on May 28, 1832, in

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...

, France. He was the son of Joseph and Marianne Moulleseaux Fahys. His father was a contractor; and both his father and brother died when Fahys was young. In company with his mother, he came to New York in March 1848. He apprenticed himself to Ulysses Savoye (or Ulysses S. Savage), of

West Hoboken, New Jersey West Hoboken was a municipality that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, from 1861 to 1925. It merged with Union Hill to form Union City on June 1, 1925. The town is notable for being the first city in which Mallomars were sold.Barron, Jame ...

, one of the two first makers of watch cases in the United States. He remained in Savoye's employ for five years, and soon after attaining his majority, began an independent career.

Career

Fahys bought out the Savoye business on June 1, 1857. He continued it under his own name and moved the factory to the fourth floor of 75 Nassau Street, New York City before later moving the plant to

Carlstadt, New Jersey Carlstadt is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 6,127, In 1861, he formed a connection with Fortenbach Brothers (John, Jacob, and Joseph), which resulted in the building at Carlstadt, one of the first establishments in America which manufactured watch cases on an extensive scale; for five years, business was profitable. In 1867, Fahys located a similar factory in Brooklyn in which he associated with Wheeler, Parsons & Hayes, and the joint enterprise was known as the Brooklyn Watch Case Company. When both factories were well under way, Fahys sold his New York store to Ward & Jennings, two of his employees, and gave his undivided attention to his manufacturing interests. In 1876, he bought the share of the Fortenbach Brothers and moved the Carlstadt plant to Sag Harbor, Long Island. For many years he made a specialty of silver watch cases. He was president of Joseph Fahys & Co., located in the Fahys Building, on 54 Maiden Lane,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; the company was established in 1857. Fahys' son-in-law, Henry Francis Cook, who was president of the Montauk Steamboat Company, became a partner of Fays & Co. in 1880. A year later, he built his own factory in the Harbor. In 1887, in connection with A. N. Darling, Hayden W. Wheeler, Lewis A. Parsons and Henry Hays, he founded the Brooklyn Watch Case Co. for the manufacture of solid gold cases and retained a dominant interest in this for many years though he devoted his time principally to his own factory at Sag Harbor. Fahys was the founder and first president of the Jewelers' Board of Trade, and the first president of the Watchcase Manufacturers' Association. He was a member of the

Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants. As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, in ...

, the

Union League The Union Leagues were quasi-secretive men’s clubs established separately, starting in 1862, and continuing throughout the Civil War (1861–1865). The oldest Union League of America council member, an organization originally called "The Leag ...

, and the Downtown Association. He was a trustee of the Homoeopathic Hospital, the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. He was director of the Alvin Manufacturing Co., Brooklyn Watch Case Co., Sea View Elevated Railroad Co., and Victoria Fire Insurance Co. In the 1930s, the

Bulova Watch Company Bulova is an American timepiece manufacturing company that was founded in 1875 and has been owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Citizen Watch Co. since 2008. The company makes watches, clocks and accessories, and it is based in New York ...

took over Fahys' watch factory.

Personal life

In 1856, he married a lady from the Hommedieus, an old Sag Harbor family with Huhuenot roots. Their son, George Ernest Fahys, who became a partner in the Fahys Co., was born in West Hoboken in 1864. Fahys's daughter, Lena Marianne, married Cook in 1883. Fahys and Cook purchased one thousand acres of land in North Haven, a suburb of Sag Harbor, with two miles of frontage on

Peconic Bay The Peconic Bay is the parent name for two bays between the North Fork and South Fork, Suffolk County, New York, South Fork of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is separated from Gardiners Bay by Shelter Island (t ...

. Fahys'

Clinton Hill, Brooklyn Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. It is bordered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Classon Avenue and Bedford–Stuyves ...

residences were designed in 1889 and 1890 by

Benjamin Wistar Morris, III Benjamin Wistar Morris (sometimes III or Jr.; October 23, 1870 – December 4, 1944) was an American architect from Oregon who worked primarily in New York City. Early life and education Morris was born in Portland, Oregon on October 23, 18 ...

. Morris also designed Fahys'

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

country house. Fahys also lived in New York City on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

. He died at his summer home in Sag Harbor, Long Island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahys, Joseph 1832 births 1915 deaths People from the Upper East Side People from the Territoire de Belfort American watchmakers (people) American industrialists French emigrants to the United States People from Sag Harbor, New York People from Southampton (town), New York People from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn 19th-century American businesspeople