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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Elgin, Illinois, United States

Elgin National Watch Company

Verified

High-volume pocket watch production across all grades

History

The largest American producer by volume, Elgin made roughly sixty million movements, supplying everything from inexpensive utility watches to adjusted railroad grades and wartime instruments.

Major innovations

  • Large-scale automated component production
  • Wartime precision instrument manufacture

Known markings

  • 'Elgin Nat'l Watch Co.'
  • Grade names on higher grades only

Serial numbers

Elgin serial tables are well documented; grade is determined from the serial number in published lists rather than from plate markings alone.

Collecting significance

Volume production means condition and originality, rather than rarity, usually determine desirability.

Photographs

Elgin National Watch Company Observatory (Elgin, IL) 04
Elgin National Watch Company Observatory (Elgin, IL) 04 — G LeTourneau, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Elgin National Watch Company Father Time
Elgin National Watch Company Father Time — Original: Unknown Clean PNG: Wrs1864, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
1919 Elgin National Watch Company USA
1919 Elgin National Watch Company USA — Ken Heaton, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Elgin factory records as published by the NAWCC

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.