Dial case and movement signed. DIM. 31 x 35 mm. THICKNESS 9 mm. WILLIAM EDWARD BOEING (1881 -1956) Educated in Switzerland and attended Yale University, Boeing started his career in the lumber business. While President of Greenwood Timber Co. he experimented with boat design. During the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909 he saw his first mannedflying machine and became fascinated. He bought a plane and learned to fly. He damagedhis aircraft and was told it would take months to get parts for it. It was then he decided he could build one himself faster and bought an old boat works near Seattle for his factory. By 1916 he was in business with George Conrad Westervelt as Pacific Aero Products. In 1917 Boeing changed the name to Boeing Airplane Co and got orders from the US Navy for 50 planes. After the war he began to concentrate on commercial aircraft securing contracts to supply airmail service which evolved into passenger service which later became United Airlines.