A Brief History of The Elgin Watch Company

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The Elgin National Watch Company, most commonly known as just the Elgin Watch company, was founded in August 1864 as the National Watch Company. Elgin is known as America's most prolific wrist watch maker. The company produced more than half the watches made in America. The company made more than 50 million watches in all.

History

The company was formed in August 1864 and quickly obtained the services of seven expert machinists from the Waltham Watch Co-the "Seven Stars".

The company was incorporated in and had its main offices in Chicago,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Ilinois. The factory was built in Elgin,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Illinois following negotiation with the local townspeople who put up money and bought land for the company.

The initial factory-Plant No 1-was located on National Street, Elgin. It was completed in 1866 and the first watch movement produced the next year.

The name was changed to the Elgin National Watch Company in 1874. In 1875 Elgin made its first railroad pocket watch. During the 1920s Elgin was a leader in the production of wristwatches.

Elgin was an early adopter of the principles of mass production, treading a middle line between cost and quality. For more discerning customers they introduced the premium "Lord Elgin".

An advantage of this mass production for collectors is that many identical watches and spare parts were made. It is thus often possible to buy Elgin watches and spare parts today for reasonable prices.

During World War II,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Elgin production was diverted to military needs. After the war ended the company diversified into a wide variety of other markets. Watch sales were increasingly being affected by cheap imports.

Elgin was originally called the "National Watch Company", but in 1874, they changed their name to the "Elgin National Watch Company" because that was what most of the watch trade and public was calling them. They kept that name until the mid 1960's when they got out of producing watches and changed their name to the "Elgin National Industries". Plant No 1 was razed to the land.

The rights to the name "Elgin" were sold to MZ Berger,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but Elgin-branded watches produced after 1964 have no other connection to Elgin or the Elgin Watch Company.