Elgin Pocket Watches:
The Elgin Watch Company was founded in Elgin - a city 64 km Northwest of Chicago on the Fox River in Illionis, in 1864. The company was originally called The Elgin National Watch Company, which later became popular simply as Elgin Watch Company.Apart from producing wrist watches, the company pocketwatches became extremely popular and produced nearly half the production of pocket watches in USA. The company was closed down in 1964, after a one hundred years of operations. Elgin Pocket watches are now regarded as vintage or antique and most people will love to get them as collectibles. Following are some of the most sought after Elgin Pocket Watches:
Vintage Elgin Pocket watch
Antique Elgin Pocketwatch
Elgin Gold Pocketwatches
Elgin Raymond Railroad Pocket watches
Elgin wind indicator Pocketwatch
Elgin up down indicator Pocket watch.
 |
The Elgin National Watch Company started in 1864 as the National Watch Company. Because the factory was in Elgin, Illinois, everybody called it variations of "the Elgin company." Eventually, they changed their name to reflect this, becoming the Elgin National Watch Company.
Elgin was the first to mass produce high quality pocket watches with interchangeable parts. Until the middle of the 19th century, watches were hand-made, and if a part broke the owner would have to find someone who could make a new part to replace the broken one. Though Elgin never made the ultra high quality timepieces similar to those made in Switzerland, they combined with Waltham (an American watch company) to dominate the mid-priced watch market.
Even though they stopped making watches in 1964, while they were in the watch business, Elgin made enough watches and spare parts for them that they can still be bought and fixed. Even the oldest Elgin watches can be used with proper maintenance.
During the Second World War, the Elgin National Watch Company began making precision instruments including bombsights in support of the war effort. Though they continued to make watches until 1964, they kept the emphasis on military manufacturing. When the Elgin, Illinois plant closed in 1964, the company moved its headquarters to just outside Columbia South Carolina, where they continued to work on military projects.
There is a large and avid community in the U.S. of Elgin watch collectors. Much of their enthusiasm is due to the ease of repairing these watches and the ready availability of parts for them. For a period of 100 years, the Elgin National Watch Company made 60 million watches. They also led the way in American production of wrist watches, starting in 1910. Most other American watch companies didn't make wrist watches until after the First World War, when soldiers had discovered how much more convenient they were than pocket watches. While Elgin may not have had the reputation of a luxury watch brand, they have a permanent and important place in the history of American watch making.
