Photo by Joseph
(photo ref:333)
(photo ref:334)
Photos by Tucker
Elgin 21 Jewel Railroad Grade ca 1910 movement
(photo ref:335)
This website holds all the archived pages about foreign clock and watch makers that have been removed from our main website that now deals exclusively with British and Irish Clock and Watch makers. We did not want to loose this information so have put it on this website.
Updated 10 May 2002
In 1864, at the height of the American Civil War, there was a great demand for watches, and several new watch manufacturing companies were founded. The National Watch Company, of Elgin, Illinois, was formed by a number of organisers from the Waltham Watch Company, including P. S. Bartlett and D. G. Currier. The initial capital for the company was put up by Benjamin Raymond, a former Mayor of Chicago, and the company was founded in August 1864. The factory was in Elgin, Illinois, on 35 acres of land donated by the City of Chicago. This site was chosen partly because it was well situated on the Galina and Chicago Union Railroad, one of the busiest railroads into Chicago.
The factory was completed in 1866, and the first watches were put on the market in 1867, selling for about $115, very similar in appearance to those being produced by Waltham. They achieved popularity very quickly, their high quality appealing particularly to the railroad trade. These earlier watches were all keywound, with the first stem wind model being produced in 1872.
In 1874, the name of the company was changed to the Elgin National Watch Company. At this time, all parts with the exception of the balance were interchangeable, a totally different set up to the Europeans, where parts had to be hand fitted. The company grew rapidly, and soon became the chief competitor to Waltham, following the latter's example in introducing nickel finish, thinner watches, and a range of sizes from 20 size down to 10 size, to suit both ladies and gentlemen. By 1876 the company could produce more than 2,000 movements and complete watches in a 60 hour working week.
In 1873, Elgin introduced their first stem-wind model of watch. They converted their B.W. Raymond movement from key-wind to stem wind. By 1880, Elgin had produced over 700, 000 watches, the comparable figure for Waltham being 1,500,000. However, just twenty years later, in 1900 both companies had produced 9,000,000 watches. Thereafter, Elgin overtook Waltham, and by 1930 had produced 33,000,000, as opposed to 27,000,000 from Waltham.
The first wristwatch was produced in 1910. In 1912 the company produced the 'Versatility' model ladies watch which became very popular as it could be worn as a wristwatch or as a broach. The men's wristwatch did not appear until 1916.
Elgin never got involved in the production of cheap, 'dollar' watches, concentrating instead on the higher quality jewelled lever watch. This culminated in the production, in 1922, of their 'Hulburd' model (named after the company's president). This was a 19-jewel model, in the thinnest case so far produced, intended for the presentation market. The cases of these watches were claimed to be unique, with no two exactly alike.
In 1943, Elgin won a contract with the U.S. Navy to produce 3000 ships chronometers at a cost of $541 per instrument. In 1944, numbers 1 & 3 were delivered for testing to the Naval Observatory. Number 1 was accepted in April 1945 after considerable adjustments. Unfortunately Elgin could not produce repeatable accurate chronometers due to the split balance wheel design. Another 22 were delivered, but all failed the trials. No Elgin chronometers ever went into service as the contract was canceled. The Number 1 was given to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC for display, others that had already been constructed were sold to the public.
After 1945 the company started to lose it's dominant position. In 1950 Elgin bought out the Wadsworth Watch Case Company in order to guarantee continued supply of watch cases. Although Elgin now owned the company, they were allowed to continue under their own management team headed by Arthur Wadsworth.
In 1952, 5 years before the famous launch by Hamilton, Elgin announced the creation of it's first Electric wrist watch. The model was a prototype Unfortunately the development of the prototype into a production model took 10 years and by the time it was ready for production in 1962, Elgin had lost the lead in electronic watches and the watch was not put into major production. The company released their 'Lord Elgin' range of electronic wristwatches, but not many were made.
The company remained in production of men's watches until 1964. In 1966 the final nail in the coffin was the demolition of the 'emblem' a prominent clock tower.
It should be noted that Elgin also sold watches under the G.M. Wheeler name, named after an employee of the company who left in about 1870.
Approximate dates/serial numbers chart
| 1866 - 1 1867 - 10001 1868 - 35001 1869 - 65001 1870 - 1,95001 1871 - 120001 1872 - 155001 1873 - 170001 1874 - 210001 1875 - 320001 1876 - 390001 1877 - 475001 1878 - 500001 1879 - 580001 1880 - 750001 1881 - 900001 1882 - 1000001 1883 - 1300001 1884 - 500001 1885 - 1700001 1888 - 2000001 1887 - 2400001 1888 - 2900001 1889 - 3400001 1880 - 3900001 1891 - 4500001 1892 - 4800001 1893 - 4900001 1894 - 5550001 1895 - 5900001 | 1886 - 6550001 1897 - 7100001 1898 - 7550001 1899 - 8200001 1900 - 9000001 1901 - 9250001 1902 - 9700001 1903 - 10100001 1904 - 10900001 1905 - 11900001 1906 - 12800001 1907 - 12900001 1908 - 13550001 1909 - 14000001 1910 - 14900001 1911 - 15900001 1912 - 16500001 1913 - 17200001 1914 - 17900001 1915 - 18400001 1916 - 19500001 1917 - 20100001 1918 - 21000001 1919 - 22000001 1920 - 23000001 1921 - 24050001 1922 - 25100001 1923 - 26050001 1924 - 27000001 1925 - 28050001 | 1926 - 29100001 1927 - 30050001 1928 - 31500001 1929 - 32000001 1930 - 32500001 1931 - 33000001 1932 - 33800001 1933 - 35000001 1934 - 35100001 1935 - 35750001 1936 - 38200001 1937 - 37100001 1938 - 37900001 1939 - 38200001 1940 - 39100001 1941 - 40200001 1942 - 41100001 1943 - 42200001 1944 - 42600001 1945 - 43200001 1946 - 43800001 1947 - 44200001 1948 - 45100001 1949 - 46000001 1950 - 47000001 1951 - 48000001 1952 - 49000001 1953 - 50000001 1956 - 55000000 |
A Concise Guide To Military Timepieces 1880-1990, pp 36 shows a pocket watch supplied by Elgin to the British armed forces c1940.
Clocks Magazine, Vol 17 issue 1 pp 4, shows an Elgin National Watch Co Aircraft clock.
Complete price guide to watches 2001, pp 172-202 and 931-932 shows many Elgin watches and gives dates and style information.
Pocket Watches 19th & 20th Century, pp 208-211 shows 4 different pocket watches.
The Pocket Watch Handbook, pp 74 and 118 shows the movement and front view of one of their standard pocket watches c1910.
Watches 1850-1980, pp 38,shows the same pocket watch as in The Pocket Watch Handbook.
NAWCC Bulletin, issue 099 pp 386 shows and Elgin watch No. 653
NAWCC Bulletin, issue 147 pp 483, shows a cheap movement made for the foreign markets.
NAWCC Bulletin, Issue 293 pp 769-774 shows and describes the 'Lord Elgin' electric wristwatch.
NAWCC Bulletin, Issue 298 pp 599-605 shows and describes the Elgin 571 21 Jewel Railroad watch.
NAWCC Bulletin, Issue 309 pp 459 shows the W.H Ferry model pocket watch
NAWCC Bulletin, Issue 316 pp 571 shows the Elgin Watch Factory in 1869.
Note: Due to the dynamic nature of the addition of Trade Directories to our library, these results may show additional dates to the text above.
| 18ct gold hunter cased minute repeater National Watch Co signed case and dial and a simple form of chronograph. Iit stops a centre sweep sec hand and flys back. The mov number is 79729 or would that be the serial ? It reads inside repetition half chronometer National Watch Co CHAUX DE FONDS . Note this watch would not have been made by Elgin it would have been bought from a Swiss company and badged for Elgin. Photo by Joseph (photo ref:333) |
| Photos by Arthur Yellin (photo ref:334) |
| Elgin USA Man's wristwatch Ser No. 31574428. White face with Roman numerals Photos by Tucker Elgin 21 Jewel Railroad Grade ca 1910 movement (photo ref:335) |
The above information and dates are correct to the best of our knowledge based on the current books etc in our library at the time this page was last written or amended. Please be aware that any dates given are not necessarily the start and finish dates of this maker, they are just the dates that it is likely that he was working based on the information we have found. These are taken from trade directories etc and it is quite possible that they were working for longer periods than shown above.
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