Illinois Pocket Watch Repair

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"I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the amazing customer service I received on the restoration of my 1922 Illinois Bunn Special. I absolutely cannot believe that a 95-year-old watch is now more accurate than all of my modern Swiss and Japanese movements. I want to thank you so very much for your amazing customer service and watch repair skills"

The famous Illinois watch company - made over 5.5 million of the greatest instruments ever devised beginning in 1872. In their 60 years of operation they were organized in a variety of corporate structures which lead to a mixture of brand titles appearing on the plates of their movements and dials. Such early Illinois moments revealed "S.W. Co." on works as well as "I.W. Co. Springfield Ill." Regardless of these differences, "Springfield, Illinois" appears on most of these watches. Many of these early Illinois pocket watches were key wind and needed the same key to set it's time. Later in 1875 Illinois watch co. marketed their first stem set pocket watch.

Illinois pocket watch repair and Illinois pocket watch servicing is the focus of this page. I've restored hundreds of these brilliant timepieces over the decades and I invite you to read more about my guaranteed services. The Illinois pocket watch service that I offer you is safe, prompt and precise. I promise you a considerate, and reliable experience.

Illinois Pocket Watch Serial Numbers / Dates:

1872 - 5,000 1873 - 20,000 1874 - 50,000 1875 - 75,000 1876 - 100,000 1877 - 145,000 1878 - 210,000 1879 - 250,000 1880 - 300,000 1881 - 350,000 1882 - 400,000 1883 - 450,000 1884 - 500,000 1885 - 550,000 1886 - 600,000 1887 - 700,000 1888 - 800,000 1889 - 900,000 1890 - 1,000,000 1891 - 1,040,000 1892 - 1,080,000

1893 - 1,120,000 1894 - 1,160,000 1895 - 1,220,000 1896 - 1,250,000 1897 - 1,290,000 1898 - 1,330,000 1899 - 1,370,000 1900 - 1,410,000 1901 - 1,450,000 1902 - 1,500,000 1903 - 1,650,000 1904 - 1,700,000 1905 - 1,800,000 1906 - 1,840,000 1907 - 1,900,000 1908 - 2,100,000 1909 - 2,150,000 1910 - 2,200,000 1911 - 2,300,000 1912 - 2,400,000 1913 - 2,500,000

1914 - 2,600,000 1915 - 2,700,000 1916 - 2,800,000 1917 - 3,000,000 1918 - 3,200,000 1919 - 3,400,000 1920 - 3,600,000 1921 - 3,750,000 1922 - 3,900,000 1923 - 4,000,000 1924 - 4,500,000 1925 - 4,700,000 1926 - 4,800,000 1927 - 4,850,000 1928 - 5,000,000 1929 - 5,150,000 1930 - 5,300,000 1931 - 5,400,000 1932 - 5,488,301 1934 - 5,500,000 1948 - 5,600,000

Illinois watch company often allowed jewelers or "jobbers" to order an amount of finished timepieces with a unique brand name appearing on a dial. This wasn't uncommon for other American watch factories yet Illinois watch company made more watches with these various dial names as any other American watch factory did. Some of the names appearing on these watches were: Ariston Watch company, Benjamin Franklin, Burlington Watch co., Capitol Watch company, Cosmopolitan Watch company, Diamond Watch company, Eastern Watch company, Engle National Watch company, Federal Watch company, Grant USA, Houston Watch company, Iowa watch co. Landis Watch co. Liberty USA watch company, Plymouth Watch co. Paillard Non-Magnetic Watch company, Standard Watch company, Stewart Watch company, and Washington watch company.

Any of the above watches were made by the Illinois watch company and of such a quality as to warrant their overhaul and expect very dependable performance afterwards. I look forward to providing you with this service now, and support it's health long into the future. Please visit my Pocket Watch repair page for more detailed information: https://www.watchrepair.cc/pocketwatches.html

Illinois pocket watches were made many configurations with a long list of characteristics. These many types can in 9 different sizes of and internal models of which - for your enlightenment are listed below:

18 size Illinois pocket watch models: The Alleghany model, the "America", Army & Navy, Baltimore & Ohio railroad Special, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Standard, Bates, Benjamin Franklin U.S.A., The Bunn model and the Bunn Special model, Central Truck Railroad, Chesapeake & Ohio Special, Columbia, Columbia Special, Comet, Commodore, Currier, Dauntless, Dean, Diurnal, Dominion Railway, Eastlake, Emperor, Enterprise, Eureka, Forest City, General Grant, the General Lee, Hoyt, Interior, Interstate Chronometer, Iowa Watch company, King of the Road, Lafayette, Lakeshore, Landis Watch co., Liberty Bell, A. Lincoln,Maiden Lane, Manhattan, Mason, Miller, Monarch, Montgomery Ward, Muscantine, Non-Magnetic Watch Co. Paillard Non- Magnetic watch company, Pennsylvania Special, Pierce Arrow, Plymouth Watch company, Potomac, The president, The Railroader, Railroad King, Railway Engineer, Railway Regulator, S.W. co. Sears & Roebuck Special, Senate, Southern Railroad Special, Starlight, J.p. Stevens, Stuart Transition Models, Time King, Vault Time Locke for Mosler, Washington Watch co. and the various 18 size models identified by numbers: 65, 101,102,104,105,106,444,445, 1905 Special,

16 size Illinois models: The Adams Street, Nebraska spelled backwards - Ak-Sar-Ben, Ariston Arlington Special, Army & Navy, B&M Special, B&O Standard, Benjamin Franklin, Bunn and the Bunn Special, Burlington Watch company, the Burlington Bull dog, The Capitol, the C & O Special, DeLong Escapement, the Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire models, the Dispatcher, Forest City, Franklin Street, the Getty Model, Great Northern Special, Interstate Chronometer, Lafayette, Lakeshore, Landis, Liberty Bell, A. Lincoln, the Illinois Marine Special, Monroe, Paillard Non Magnetic, Pennsylvania Special, Plymouth Watch company, the Precise model, Quincy Street, Railroad Dispatcher, Railroad Official, Railway King, the beautiful Sangamo models, the equally beautiful Santa Fe Special models, Senate, Standard, Stewart, Stewart Special model, Time King and the Victory model. Other 16 size Illinois pocket watches known by model numbers are the: 161 Bunn Special, the 161A Bunn Special, the 161a Elinvar Bunn Special, The 161b Bunn Special, the 163 Bunn Special, the 163 Elinvar Bunn Special, the 163 Bunn Special, the 163a Eninvar Bunn Special, the 167L,, the 167,169,174,175,177,179,187,189,333,555,777, and the Illinois 900 model.

14 size Illinois pocket watch models: The Illinois Watch company model in 7 jewel, 11 jewel, 15 jewel, 16 jewel, 21 jewels

13 and 12 size Illinois pocket watch models: The Aristocrat model, the Ariston model, the Autocrat, the Ben Franklin model, Burlington watch co., the Central model, the Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire models, Elite, Illini, Inter- State Chronometer, A. Lincoln, Maiden America Marquis, Railroad Dispatch Special, the Santa Fe Special, Sterling, Stewart Special, Time King, Transit, Vim, Washington Watch company. and the various Illinois 13 and 12 size models known by their model numbers: model 121, model 127, model 129, model 219, model 403, 405,409,and the model 410

8 size Illinois pocket watch models: The Arlington model, the Rose LeLand model, the Stanley model, the Mary Stuart model, The Sunnyside model and the models known by their numbers: Illinois 151 model, the 152 model, and the Illinois 155 model 8 size pocket watch.

6 size, 4 size and 0 size Illinois pocket watch models: 6 size: the Illinois w. co. in 7 jewel, 11 jewel, 15 jewel, 17 jewel, 19 jewel, the Washington Watch co. 4 size: The Illinois watch company model in 7 jewel, 11 jewel and 15 jewel. 0 size: The Illinois Watch co. in 7 jewel, the Illinois 201 mold, the 203 model, the 204 model, the Interstate Chronometer in both 15 and 1 jewel, the Liberty bell and the Mt. Vernon.

Your Illinois pocket watch was initially designed and made so well, that I guarantee that I can return it to a beautiful and dependable state, regardless of it's current condition. Review at your convenience more details of my Illinois pocket watch repair service. I provide Illinois pocket watch restoration of watches needing signification work, and Illinois pocket watch servicing of watches that are complete. Learn more »

Early chronology of the Illinois watch company:

Illinois Springfield Watch co. 1867-79
Springfield Illinois Watch co. 1879-85
Illinois Watch co. 1885-1927
Illinois Watch co. sells to Hamilton Watch co. 1927

The Illinois Springfield Watch co. as originally organized, owed it's birth mainly to the efforts of Mr.J.C. Adams, who presented the matter before the local Board of Trade of Springfield, Ill., in such a favorable light that it resulted in the formation of the Illinois Springfield Watch Co. on January 1869, with the capital of $100,000. Mr John T. Stuart was made President and Mr. W.B. Miller, Secretary. The Board of Directors was composed of Messrs. J.T. Stuart, W.B. Miller, John Williams, John W. Bunn, George Black and George Passfield.

Mr. Adams then visited Elgin and engaged six experienced men to take charge of different departments. These men came to Springfield in April, 1870, and went to work in a temporary machine ship hired for the purpose. They commenced making machine shop tools to build machinery for watch manufacturing. It may be said that the company commenced under favorable auspices, as they had a staff of men of proven ability, and experienced in the horological line. This was an advantage over some companies that were obliged to educate a large part of there employees.

The location selected for the factory is just north of North Grand Avenue, which bounds the city on the northern side and is consequently outside the city limits. The land on which the factory is located is a portion of a tract formerly owned by Mr. Henry Converse, a proprietor of the rolling mills in the vicinity. It is in the form of a square and comprises fourteen acres, ten of which were presented to the company by Mr. Converse, and the remaining four purchased.

Work on the building was commenced on May 2, 1870 and the present north wing was completed December 2 of the same year, being 30 x 100 feet, three stories high. The center building was not erected until 1879. The factory was occupied as soon as completed and work on the machinery was pushed forward. In four or five months after moving into the factory, they commenced to manufacture parts of watches, and in January 1872, twenty one months after starting to make the machinery, the first complete watches were turned out. The grades were given the following names: "Stuart", after John T. Stuart, the President of the company and former law partner of Abraham Lincoln; "Bunn" after J.W. Bunn, a Director; "Miller" after W.B. Miller, the Secretary and prominent hardware merchant of Springfield; "Currier" after D.G. Currier, first foreman of the finishing room; "Hoyt" after Otis Hoyt, foreman of the train room; "Mason", after C.E. Mason, foreman of the escapement room. They were all brought along together and put on the market about the same time and all were 18 size, full plate and key wind.

The company found considerable difficulty in introducing their goods to the trade in such a manner as to give satisfactory results to the company. The first idea was to sell directly to the retail trade and they acted on this plan for some time. Mr. Miller, who during the first few years, was also acting as business manager, would often take trips East, visiting the large cities for the purpose of introducing the watches. It broke down his health, however, and the company soon found they needed greater facilities for disposing of their goods, so Mr. Miller came to New York in 1873 and started a New York office and appointed Mr. J.M. Morrow as agent. The office was located at the old No. II (now 7) Maiden Lane. The goods were thus placed in the hands of jobbers with more satisfactory results than before. At the end of the first year of production, thirty eight thousand dollars of watches had been made. One hundred and twenty-five operatives were employed and the factory was producing watches a the rate of about twenty five per day.

The panic, however, of that year caused their sales to dwindle, consequently a large surplus of watches was accumulated which amounted at the close of the year to $100,000 in value. The company soon found themselves involved, as they had been obliged to borrow money on the surplus production in order to meet current expenses. They were solvent, but for want of ready cash were unable to proceed further under the old management. The stockholders numbered seventy, all told, and under the circumstances agreed that they did not care to put any more money into the enterprise. They ran along until 1875, when something in the way of a change became necessary, so the old company abandoned the enterprise to a new company, which took the assets and assumed all liabilities, the old stockholders losing the full amount of their investment. The liabilities reached nearly 100,000 but the assets were somewhat in excess of that amount. The new company necessarily made something by the transaction, but it was better than to have lost the enterprise to the city, as it has been worth more to Springfield than the capital itself.

In spite of the apparent financial success of the new company, the books showed a net loss of $44,000 for the first year ending December 31, 1877. At the same time, the assets exceeded the liabilities by $162,000. The numbers of employees was increased to 260 and the production increased from 75 to 130 watches per day. But still the business was not satisfactory from a financial point of view and in 1879 another reorganization took place and the name of the company was changed from "Illinois Springfield" to "Springfield Illinois Watch Company".

And now with a few words in reference to the company's production, we bring our brief history a close. The total production reaches nearly a million movement, the average yearly production for the last few years being not far from 100,000. They have larger capacity, but, like many other companies, are not up to the full limit. Most of the production is sold through the New York office, by it's able and enterprising agent, Mr. S.M. Cony, who now represent the company there. These bits and fragments appeared in the 1885 Charles Crossman book, the complete history of watch making in America. Publisher unknown.




The Illinois Watch Factory - Springfield, Illinois
This factory was responsible for making 6 million watch in 61 years of production before the company was sold to Hamilton Watch Company in 1928. The grounds of the old Illinois watch factory was later sold to the Sangamo Electric company.

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