Vintage Ads From American Watchmakers You Need To See

Before the Quartz Crisis, and even before the rise in popularity of Swiss brands in the US, American watchmaking was a powerhouse industry. Vintage ads from American watchmakers during this period of time capture America’s rich heritage and watchmaking past. If you’re into horology, then you need to see them, because they’re integral to the history of watchmaking. Plus, they’re really cool.

The ads come from a time when buying an affordable (yet high-quality) timepiece came at a reasonable price. This is especially true the further back in time we go. Think enamel dials, blued-steel hands, and sometimes even beautiful hand-finishing on the movement – all for the price of an entry-level watch in today’s dollars. And they were manufactured, assembled, and sold right here in the US. Let’s take a trip back in time – from the 1960s all the way back to the early 1900s.

Hamilton Ad From 1961

I’ll ease into this article with the formerly-American brand that’s probably the most well-known today – Hamilton. Established in 1892, it remained an American company up until 1969 when it ceased American manufacture. This was shortly after it acquired Buren Watch Company. Hamilton Lancaster operated as a joint venture with Buren Switzerland from 1966 to 1969.

During this time period, Hamilton Lancaster started to incorporate Swiss movements inside its watches, including the super cool Buren Micro-Rotor movement. This was the first patented movement to eliminate the more common (even today) external oscillating rotor – although some may dispute this and give the title of first micro-rotor movement to Universal Geneve. Hamilton and Buren also played a pivotal role in developing the first automatic (non-integrated) chronograph, the Caliber 11.

Today, Hamilton is part of the Swatch group, and so is kept alive as a Swiss company with “American Spirit”.
 

Gruen Ad From 1947

A company that actually took a different route (at the time), utilizing Swiss movements and casing them in America, was Gruen. It was one of the largest watch manufacturers in the United States, and also one of the first to offer Swiss movements dialed and cased in the States. In the 1920’s it actually was the largest in the United States at one point. Perhaps the fact that many of the brand’s movements were manufactured in its Swiss Precision Factory adds to the misconception that Gruen was a Swiss brand. In 1935, it introduced its popular Curvex model, arguably the brands most famous, although the advertisement below is from 1947.

Paul Schliesser’s excellent book (available for reading online here) provides an excellent history of the brand in detail. Most of Gruen’s history was unfortunately destroyed, so perhaps this is why it’s not a household name like Hamilton. Gruen also supplied James Bond’s first watch in Dr. No, but by then it wasn’t really an American company anymore.

Ingersoll Ad From 1937

Going even further back, we have an advertisement from Ingersoll, a company that didn’t originally produce or sell watches at all. It was first conceived as a mail order business, and founded by the Ingersoll brothers in 1882. Its first watches were actually supplied by the Waterbury Clock Company in 1892.

Ingersoll introduced the first “dollar watch” – the Yankee – in 1896, making timepieces pretty much anybody could afford. Despite making the watches largely by hand in the beginning, the company eventually adopted Henry Ford’s assembly line methods and was able to mass produce relatively high quality watches for the masses.

By the time the 1930s came around, the company began producing the first Mickey Mouse watches, selling over five million of them in the first 15 years of their production. The 25-millionth Mickey Mouse Watch was actually given to Walt Disney himself in 1957 as a token of its success. Another fun fact: Ghandi declared that his Ingersoll pocket watch was one of his prized possessions as well.

When Ingersoll went bankrupt in 1922, it was purchased by the Waterbury Clock Company. The Waterbury Clock Company then changed its name to United States Time Corp in 1944, which is now known as Timex. Timex continued to produce watches under the Ingersoll name in the US through the 1950s.

Illinois Ad From 1928

The Illinois Watch Company began in the 1860s. Despite a series of minor name changes and reorganizations, it essentially operated independently until it was purchased by Hamilton in the late 1920s. The ad below, from 1928, is likely from around the time of the Hamilton purchase.

Shortly after Hamilton purchased the company in 1928, the Great Depression hit. Hamilton was faced with some tough financial choices. Allowing only one of the companies to survive, Hamilton chose itself and shuttered the Illinois watchmaking facilities.

A definitive history of the company was written by Fred Friedberg, “The Illinois Watch: The Life and Times of a Great American Watch Company”, for those interested in learning more.

Elgin Ad From 1923

Another Iconic American watchmaker was Elgin. Originally known as the National Watch Company, it changed its name to Elgin National Watch Company in 1874. This name stuck until the 1960s. Elgin was founded in 1864, right as the Civil War was coming to an end. The company officially ceased US production in 1968, and rights to the name Elgin were sold.

Elgin, along with Waltham, dominated the mid-tier range for watches in America during its heyday. If you’re a fan of basketball, here’s some additional trivia. Hall of famer Elgin Baylor was named after the company, which was his father’s favorite watch.

Waltham Ad From 1919

The oldest ad we’ll be looking at today is from Waltham. The company started in the early 1850s, introducing a system of interchangeable parts. This innovative system allowed it to become one of the first watchmakers in the world to mass produce a complete watch all by itself. This also allowed it to churn out quality watches at affordable prices.

The company declared bankruptcy many times throughout its history, before officially becoming defunct around 1957.Three separate brands, including Invicta, took over Waltham in the 1960s. The name continued on through the 1970s, when it merged into a federation with other Swiss manufacturers. The Société des Garde-Temps SA (SGT) eventually went bankrupt as well in 1981, largely as a result of the Quartz Crisis.

For more vintage advertisements, visit the archive at lugsandlume.com. Know more about the American watchmaking industry and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!