The Elgin National Watch Company was a major American watchmaker that operated from 1864 to 1968. For nearly 100 years, the company's manufacturing complex in Elgin, Illinois was the world's largest site dedicated to watchmaking, producing approximately half of all pocket watches manufactured in the United States. The company sold watches under the names Elgin, Lord Elgin, and Lady Elgin.
Founded in August 1864 as the National Watch Company in Chicago, Illinois, the company was established by Philo Carpenter, Howard Z. Culver, Benjamin W. Raymond, George M. Wheeler, Thomas S. Dickerson, and W. Robbins. They recruited seven watchmakers from the Waltham Watch Company to join their new venture. The city of Elgin, Illinois was chosen as the factory site, with local businessmen donating 35 acres of land. The factory was completed in 1866, and the first movement, the B.W. Raymond, was delivered in 1867. The company officially changed its name to Elgin National Watch Company in 1874. In 1910, the company built its own observatory to maintain scientifically precise times. During World War II, the company shifted entirely to defense production, manufacturing military watches, chronometers, artillery fuzes, altimeters, and aircraft instruments. In 1963, manufacturing relocated to Elgin, South Carolina. The original Illinois factory closed in 1964 and was demolished in 1966. The company discontinued all US manufacturing in 1968, ending over a century of American watchmaking.
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