Low-cost pin-lever pocket watch · United States
Ingersoll 'Yankee' Dollar Watch
Partially verifiedMarketed at one US dollar, the Yankee watch became an emblem of mass-market affordability, reportedly selling in very large numbers over its production life and popularised further by celebrity endorsement claims in period advertising that should be treated as period marketing rather than independently verified fact.
Technical facts
- Escapement
- Pin-pallet (Roskopf-type) lever
- Case
- Inexpensive base-metal case, typically nickel or similar
Historical significance
- Marketed at one US dollar, the Yankee watch became an emblem of mass-market affordability, reportedly selling in very large numbers over its production life and popularised further by celebrity endorsement claims in period advertising that should be treated as period marketing rather than independently verified fact.
- An American parallel to the Swiss Roskopf concept: a self-consciously cheap, simplified watch aimed at a mass consumer market rather than the precision-watch trade.
Related photographs
No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.
Sources & references
- NAWCC Bulletin, articles on the Ingersoll Yankee watch and dollar-watch trade history
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.