Antique watches cannot ever tell their life stories, but I’d like to tell an imaginary tale which could be quite typical of a great watch. The date is 1905. A 25 year old railroad worker named I.M. Hogger has just been told by his master mechanic that he has been promoted from passenger fireman to yard engineer. He decides its time to get a new watch to keep him on time. Mr. Hogger soon leaves his jeweler with an 18 size, 19 jewel Elgin B. W. Raymond grade 240. He splurges a little and ...
In his 1930s classic “Walkin’ Blues”, Robert Johnson wrote of his lady friend: “She’s got Elgin movements from her head down to her toes.” Quite a nice testimonial to the fame of the Elgin watch company I should say. Elgin was without a doubt the greatest American watch company. If watch companies were like automakers, Elgin would be General Motors fore sure. The biggest, the most makes, the highest variety of models - Elgin was the king. Elgin began in 1864 when a number of citizens ...
The Hampden Watch Company was by no means the largest and best known American watchmaker but its story is indeed one of the most interesting ones. Hampden has its roots in the Mozart Watch Company founded by Don Mozart in Providence RI in 1864. Mozart's initial commercial attempt was a failure and other investors reorganized the company in 1867 as the New York Watch Company and moved it to Springfield MA. Things went better in Springfield but eventually the New York Watch Company had ...
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