The Elgin National Watch Works, circa 1899

Incorporated in August 1864, the National Watch Company was founded in Chicago Illinois as a joint partnership consisting of Chicago’s Mayor and six other men.

A month later, the partners began recruiting master clockmakers from throughout the country to join the new venture.  Seven watchmakers decided to join the newly founded company, all recruited from the Waltham Watch Company in Massachusetts.

Having established itself as a company, and acquired the necessary craftsmen and talent, now the company embarked on finding a location to build a factory.

Chicago was deemed unsuitable, so were other neighboring areas. Elgin Illinois was finally selected as the suitable place to build a manufactory, on the site of a struggling farm.

Construction for the company’s factory began around 1865 and the plant was completed in 1866. The next year, in 1867 the company’s first watch was ready for market.

Noon At Elgin Watch Factory

The company quickly attained growing popularity and success. The U.S. market was rife with demand for timepieces which could accurately keep time, as well as be moderately affordable.

By 1874 the company’s products became synonymous with the town’s name of Elgin.  That year, the partners officially changed the name of the company to the Elgin National Watch Company.

Elgin National Watch Company Resilient Main Springs Tin


Creepy Logo

Key to any company’s success is establishing a trademark that, when seen by the public, immediately conveys the company and its product. This was no different for Elgin.

ElginPlaneLogoShortly after the company’s founding, the firm adopted an iconic image of Father Time as their trademark logo.  Consisting of a hybrid figure of the Roman god Saturn, merged with Greek gods Chronos, Cronus and Kairos, the effigy was quite remarkable — and by today’s standards, borderline creepy.

The figure itself harkens back to the early times of Christendom, before there existed both an allegorical representation of Time and Death.

Elgin National Watch Company Brass TinAlthough Christianity was a monotheistic religion, such allegorical concepts of both time and death were often personified.

As Christianity evolved and such concepts began to become more succinctly defined and differentiated, separate iconography for the concepts emerged: Father Christmas and Father Time.

Most of the benevolent aspects of Saturn-Cronus were embodied in Father Christmas, and the majority of the malevolent aspects of Saturn-Cronus, including the scythe, death, and devilish appearance, was symbolized by Father Time.

Petrarch's Triumphs - A 15th Century Manuscript's Depiction of Time and Death
Petrarch’s Triumphs – A 15th Century Manuscript’s Depiction of Time and Death

Towards the end of the 15th century, personifications of both iconographies had for the most part matured.  Father Time had retained Saturn-Cronus’ long beard and scythe, but had adopted Kairos’ single forelock atop his head. He had also acquired both Kairos’ winged back and feet.

Zompini-Time-HeadlinePic

His hourglass, which was the final attribute which wholly defined Father Time, is thought to have been derived from the works of Petrarch’s Triumphs. A symbol of finite time, it depicts man’s mortality and the limited duration of human life.


Evolution of Logo

Over the first 40 years of Elgin’s existence, its Father Time logo evolved.  Where once it depicted a malevolent and creepy version of Father Time, by the beginning of the 20th century the logo began to be softened.

Elgin Watch Spot - The Value of Time

Rather than appearing as a devilish, evil looking being, Elgin’s version of Father Time slowly began to be accompanied with pictures of smiling babies, gleeful cherubs, and speeding train locomotives.

Elgin’s logo which had personified death, albeit unintentionally, had evolved, and was slowly being re-invented so that it was associated with birth and technological innovation.

By the mid 1920s, however, most advertisements for Elgin had dropped the Father Time logo altogether.

More often than not, a simple image of a stopwatch was depicted, oftentimes featuring a smartly dressed man or an elegantly dressed woman.  Such a strategy made marketing sense, as no matter how nicely Father Time could be depicted, or pictured alongside cute babies, there was no getting around his scythe.  The scythe was a symbol that could not be disassociated with the deity — as it was what symbolized the Father Time iconograph in the first place.

Elgin Watches in the 1920s


The 20th Century

In 1910 the company constructed its own Observatory so it could improve the accuracy of its timepieces.

For the next 50+ years the Elgin National Watch Company remained in business, with the first half of the 20th century being its most successful.

During WWII the company switched to war-time manufacturing, building fuses, timers, chronometers, altimeters, and watches for soldiers.

Elgin Observatory


The Demise of the Company

Elgin clock tower being raised in 1966The latter half of the 20th century wasn’t so kind. Despite having built additional factories, by 1964 the firm had relocated most of its manufacturing to South Carolina.

In 1966 the old Elgin plant in Illinois was razed, including its iconic clock tower that graced the front of its nearly 100 year old factory.

Four years later, in 1968 all of Elgin’s U.S. manufacturing had ceased.  Later that year the company sold the rights to its name.


Numismatic Specimens

During the 1870s the Elgin National Watch Company emitted multiple varieties of tokens. Most all featured Elgin’s iconic Father Time trademark on the obverses, while their reverses were stamped with the names of its various timepieces.  A table of known Elgin emissions is below:

Elgin National Watch Co Token Emission Varieties

The following are four Elgin National Watch Company specimens.  The first specimen is approximately Choice AU in grade, and is listed in Rulau as IL-EL-6.

Rulau IL-EL-6 1870s

The second specimen is approximately Mint State in grade, and is listed in Rulau as IL-EL-6D.

Rulau IL-EL-6D 1870s

The third specimen, listed in Rulau as IL-EL-6L, is approximately AU in grade.

Rulau IL-EL-6L 1870s

The fourth specimen, listed in Rulau as IL-EL-14, is a membership token rather than a trade token. It is Choice AU in grade. These tokens were issued by Elgin to those who were members of its promotional “Elgin Adventurers’ Club.”

To date the author has been unable to identify specific information about Elsa Libby; multiple individuals with this name existed during the era that the token was struck and issued.

IL-EL-14 Elgin Adventurer's Club

Aaron Packard [End Mark]


Notes and Sources

  1. The Encyclopedia of Time, Samuel L. Macey, Garland Reference Library of Social Science (Vol. 810), ©1994, pg.209
  2. Standard Catalog of United States Tokens 1700-1900 Fourth Edition, Russell Rulau, Krause Publications, ©2004
  3. The Library of Congress Digital Archives
Aaron Packard

11 Comments

  1. I have a charter member coin exactly like the Ralau Il-El-14 coin with my fathers name on it. Can you share anything about it’s history or value? The name engraved is R Mainwaring.

    Thank you

    1. Author

      Hi Tim –

      Not much is documented about the Rulau IL-El-14 emission, other than what Rulau writes in his token book. It was a membership token that was issued by Elgin, estimated between the years of 1898-1930.

      It’s entirely plausible that hundreds, if not thousands, of these personalized tokens were issued to various members, including your father.

      The IL-EL-14 token illustrated above was obtained at auction, and retails for about $25 USD.

      Sorry I can’t provide more info.

      Hope this helps.

      Aaron Packard

  2. I have a Ralau Il-El-14 coin with the name dolly baker on it can you tell me anything about it. Thank you

    1. Author

      Hi Randy –

      Not much is documented about the Rulau IL-El-14 emission, other than what Rulau writes in his token book. It was a membership token that was issued by Elgin, estimated between the years of 1898-1930.

      It’s entirely plausible that hundreds, if not thousands, of these personalized tokens were issued to various members, including Ms. Dolly Baker.

      The IL-EL-14 token illustrated above was obtained at auction, and retails for about $25 USD.

      Sorry I can’t provide more info.

      Hope this helps.

      Aaron Packard

  3. I have my mother’s token from the Elgin Adventurers Club.

    It is attached to a key chain. The link that connects the

    balls of the chain is engraved ‘GREEN DUCK”.

    Do you have any idea of the significance?

  4. I am a medal collector. I own an NGC MS 67 graded R-IL-EL-14 Elgin adventures club medal with the name “Theo Des Jardin” engraved on the reverse as a charter member of this club. Does anyone have any knowledge about this person? I would love to know any information about the club or the member.

    1. Author

      Hi Bruce –

      Thanks for posting your question.

      It’s my understanding that the Elgin Adventures Club tokens often had the name of it’s recipient engraved on them. There were many “members” of this “club,” and thus, there are numerous examples of the token that were customized for their respective recipients.

      I hope this provides additional context to your inquiry.

      Thanks,

      Aaron Packard

  5. Aaron,

    I have examples of a few different Elgin medals (IL-EL 6E, 6H, 6I, 6L, 8, 9, 14). Would you be interested in pictures of them to post to this website? Please advise.

    Thanks,

    Bruce Thomas

    1. Author

      Hi Bruce –

      Thanks for reaching out. Your offer is very kind.

      Please feel free to reach out to me via ‘contact’ section of the site, and sending an email to discuss further.

      Best regards,

      A. Packard

  6. Hello Aaron,

    The following is a description I found about the Adventures’ Club radio show on NBC in 1932:

    Through either serendipity or by design, noted adventurer, war correspondent, bombast, and international adventure chronicler, Floyd Gibbons, aired his own Adventurers’ Club over NBC in early 1932. The Elgin Watch Company-sponsored half-hour format invited listeners to send in their own adventures and Gibbons would select the most interesting for his weekly program. He later began syndicating a weekly feature in newspapers throughout the country titled, The World Adventurers Club. Each syndicated supplement would highlight a specific adventure or adventurer and their exploits.

    MY THOUGHTS ARE THAT THESE MEDALS WERE PROBABLY ADVERTISED ON THE RADIO SHOW, AND “MEMBERS” (LISTENERS TO THE RADIO SHOW) COULD PURCHASE THESE PERSONALLIZED MEDALS. SO THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF MEDALS WERE PROBABLY LIMITED TO THE TOTAL AMOUNT THAT WERE PURCHASED.

    1932 WAS THE MIDDLE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION, SO MOST PEOPLE WERE PROBABLY NOT ABLE TO SPEND MONEY ON SOMETHING AS UNNEEDED AS A MEMBERSHIP MEDAL. I ASSUME THE NUMBERS OF MEDALS THAT WERE MANUFACTURED WAS POSSIBLY MUCH LOWER THAT YOUR ESTIMATE OF “HUNDREDS, IF NOT THOUSANDS”.

    THANKS,

    BRUCE

    1. Author

      Hi Bruce –

      Thanks very much for the additional information on the Elgin Adventurers’ Club Token. This is new information, and I appreciate your contribution. I will add this to an update to the article soon in the future.

      Kind regards,

      A. Packard

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