Elgin Watch Ads

Another watch that interests me (and a lot of others) is the Elgin. I just posted this ad to the left last night. This is one of the Elgin Wonder Tales series and features General Frank Taylor US Army, retired with his Elgin watch story. It is noted that General Taylor chased Sitting Bull and fought the wily Filipinos.

Elgin was founded in 1864, as the civil war was coming to an end. The first watch Elgin made, an 18 sized B W Raymond railroad grade watch, was finished in 1867 and over the next 100 years, they went on to produce about 60 million watches. Elgin produced their first wristwatch around 1910, leading most other American watch companies by many years.
Elgin was originally called the "National Watch Company". The name never really stuck and in 1874, they changed their name to the "Elgin National Watch Company" because most of the watch trade and public were calling them "watches from Elgin". The ad to the right is from an April 1870 issue of Harper's Magazine and shows the company name as National Watch Company. The ad is for the Lady Elgin.

On May 20, 1869 the First Lady Elgin made its appearance and was the first of a series of 10 size movements and it was also key wind.

There are many web sites about Elgin watches. One of my favorites is: The Elgin Watch Collectors Site.

Here are my ads: