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1. ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP SERIAL NUMBER
2. ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP SERIAL
3. ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP UPDATE

ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP SERIAL

Cases and watches were often made by different companies and each usually has its own serial number.

ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP SERIAL NUMBER

not the serial number from the watch case. the working part with the wheels and gears. Elgin lost that case, and to this day a previously used place name, such as the name of a city like "Elgin", may not be protected by US copyright.You must use the serial number from the MOVEMENT of the watch. Interestingly, the use of the name "Elgin" by the Illinois Case Company led to a lawsuit which went all the way to the US Supreme court. The local watchmaker or jeweler would then fit the movement to the case at that time.Ĭase companies used the word Elgin, the name of the city, to invoke an association with the quality reputation of the Elgin watch company. Right up in the 1920s, the common practice was for customers to select watch movements and cases separately at the retail outlet. These are not products of the Elgin National Watch Company. However, the Illinois Watch Case Company, of Elgin Illinois, was a major manufacturer of watch cases and their cases are often found marked "Elgin", "Elgin Giant" and other trade names containing the word Elgin. It is owned by the city and operated by the Elgin school distict as the Elgin U-46 Planetarium.Ī piece in Elgin's Watch Word company magazineįor the most part, the Elgin National Watch Company never made pocket watch cases.

The observatory structure still exists today at 312 Watch Street, Elgin, Il., just a block of National Street.

ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP UPDATE

Thus, using this facility, Elgin was able to accurately measure time to within hundredths of a seconds, and update clocks in the main building.Įlgin operated this system until 1958 when technology began providing better methods. The exact time, within 10-hundredths of a second, was transmitted electrically from this facility to the factory. Each clock was mounted on a concrete pier that extended down into the ground 60 feet. To control air pressure, each chronograph was sealed in a glass enclosure connected to an apparatus allowing air to be pumped in or out as needed. Each light bulb had an individual thermostat turning it on and off as needed to maintain temperature. The room was heated to a constant 81 degrees by dozens of light bulbs all around the room. The chronographs were kept in a separate room which only two people were allowed to enter at a time in order to avoid temperature shifts.

They are uniquely American, in every way. They were made on the cusp of mass manufacture, as we know it today, yet we would also say they were hand-made, and clearly by a labor force of significant skill. The results were every bit as beautiful, elegant and as accurate as much more expensive competitors.Įlgin watches are a product of a unique moment in industrialization and technological development. A great deal of care and hand work went into these watches. An Elgin advertisement in 1928 claimed that there were more than 14,418 retail jewelers in the United States and all but 12 carried Elgin watches.Įlgin recognized that craftsmanship and design were highly valued by the customer. In fact, the company introduced more than half the watches made in America from 1920-1928. Spare parts parts were provided by Elgin that were drop-in replacements for the originals.Elgin was extremely successful with this strategy.

Elgin watches on the other hand, were mass manufactured and highly standardized. Repairs could only be completed on such watches by someone with sufficient skill to fabricate replacement parts, from scratch, from raw material. Prior to Elgin's time, watches were made completely by hand, frequently by a single craftsman, from start to finish. The result was a product of high quality made in large quantities that dwarfed that of Elgin's competitors. These things are all common practices in industry today, but not so at that time. Elgin watches were created using mechanized, repeatable processes, organized quality control and standardized, interchangeable, parts.

Elgin used what were at the time quite advanced tools, techniques and labor practices to achieve a very high quality product, in high volumes, at a relatively affordable price. The Elgin National Watch Company was for a time, one of the largest industrial concerns in the world.Elgin pocketwatches from the early years are particularly interesting because of the methods and philosophy of the Elgin company. Between 1864 and sometime in the 1960s, Elgin manufactured 10s of millions of pocket and wrist watches. In 1874 the name was changed Elgin National Watch Company. But right from the start folks referred to the new products as "watches from Elgin", or Elgin watches. The Elgin National Watch Company was founded in 1864 in Elgin, Illinois as the National Watch Company.