Elgin, Illinois · 1864–1968

Elgin pocket watches

Elgin made watches in bigger numbers than any other American company. A group of Chicago backers, among them former mayor Benjamin W. Raymond, started the National Watch Company in 1864, lured seven watchmakers away from Waltham and built a factory in Elgin, Illinois. The first movement, delivered in 1867, was an 18-size B.W. Raymond, and that name was still on Elgin railroad watches in the 1950s. The company became the Elgin National Watch Company in 1874. By the time the old factory closed in 1964 it had made about half of all American pocket watches, not counting dollar watches, and American manufacturing ended in 1968. Dating one is easy, since Elgin's serial numbers are published year by year.

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