The first issue of The Watchtower was published in July of 1879.

This journal came on the scene in July 1879. One of the main reasons for its coming into existence was a dispute over the ransom. This prompted Charles T. Russell to publish the Watch Tower, in which, as he later wrote, “the Ransom [should be] defended and the Good Tidings of great Joy proclaimed as extensively as possible.”

The name “Watch Tower” was appropriate because in ancient times watchmen in towers often warned others of impending danger.

For the first issue of the Watch Tower, there were only 6,000 copies in one language, and the journal was published only once a month.

1914​—THE END OF THE GENTILE TIMES