Description: This listing is for a nice publication: THE ELGIN WATCH WORD It is from March 1951 The condition is nice showing some minor signs of age. There is a mailing label on the back cover. It measures approximately 8 3/4" x 11 1/2" with 34 pages of information and pictures about the ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH COMPANY and its employees. The Elgin National Watch Company, commonly known as Elgin Watch Company, was a major US watchmaker from 1864 to 1968. The company sold watches under the names Elgin, Lord Elgin, and Lady Elgin. For nearly 100 years, the company's manufacturing complex in Elgin, Illinois, was the world's largest site dedicated to watchmaking. The company was first incorporated in August 1864 as the National Watch Company in Chicago, Illinois, by Philo Carpenter, Howard Z. Culver, Benjamin W. Raymond, George M. Wheeler, Thomas S. Dickerson and W. Robbins. In September of the same year, the founders visited the Waltham Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts and successfully convinced seven of Waltham's watchmakers to come to work for their new company. The company built the Elgin National Watch Company Observatory in 1910 to maintain scientifically precise times in their watches. The company produced many of the self-winding wristwatch movements made in the United States, beginning with the 607 and 618 calibers (which were bumper wind) and the calibers 760 and 761 (30 and 27 jewels respectively). During World War II, the company halted all civilian manufacturing. It moved into the defense industry, manufacturing military watches, chronometers, fuzes for artillery shells, altimeters, and other aircraft instruments and sapphire bearings used for aiming cannons. Over time, the company operated several additional plants, mostly in Elgin. However, the company also located additional plants in Aurora, Illinois and Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1963, the company relocated most manufacturing operations to a new plant in Blaney, a town near Columbia, South Carolina, which renamed itself Elgin, South Carolina. The original, obsolete factory in Elgin closed in 1964 after having produced half of the total number of pocket watches manufactured in the United States (dollar-type not included). The plant was razed in 1966. The company maintained a leased building in Elgin that housed offices and casing, fitting, shipping, service, and trade material departments until about 1970. The company discontinued all US manufacturing in 1968 and sold the rights to the name "Elgin", which were subsequently resold multiple times over the years. The rights eventually were purchased by MZ Berger Inc., which manufactures its watches in China and distributes them outside traditional watch dealerships. Elgin-branded watches produced after 1968 have no connection to the Elgin Watch Company. PLEASE SEE MY OTHER LISTINGS IN MY STORE FOR SIMILAR ITEMS IN THE ELGIN WATCH Company CATEGORY AND COMBINE FOR THE LOWEST POSTAGE. Please feel free to message any questions to me.(33)
Price: 14.95 USD
Location: Lake Zurich, Illinois
End Time: 2024-11-22T04:06:00.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.63 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Binding: Softcover, Wraps
Language: English
Publisher: Elgin National Watch Company
Topic: Elgin Watches
Subject: History
Original/Facsimile: Original
