Illinois Watch Company

The Illinois Watch Company was founded on December 23, 1870, in Springfield, Illinois, by John C. Adams, John Whitfield Bunn, and other prominent local financiers including John Todd Stuart (Abraham Lincoln's former law partner). Originally established as the Springfield Watch Company with $100,000 capital, the firm sold its first movements in 1872. Financial difficulties led to reorganization as Illinois Springfield Watch Company in 1877, then finally as Illinois Watch Company in 1878 under the leadership of industrialist Jacob Bunn Sr. The Bunn family, close friends and political allies of Abraham Lincoln, guided the company through its most prosperous era. By 1890, the company had offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, employing up to 1,200 workers at peak production. The company pioneered railroad timekeeping standards and produced legendary models like the Bunn Special. Following Jacob Bunn Jr.'s death in 1926, the company was sold to Hamilton Watch Company in 1927 for over $5 million. Hamilton shifted production toward wristwatches but closed the Springfield factory in 1932 due to the Great Depression. The Illinois Watch Company was reestablished in Quincy, Illinois in 2009, producing new watches starting in 2020.