In the mid-1920s, the world's largest watchmaking complex was located in Elgin, Illinois. The huge factory enclosed more than 21 acres of floor space. Nearby was a school to train watchmakers, an observatory to calibrate timepieces by stars, plus a large boarding house and gymnasium for use by the employees. Over four thousand people were employed producing more than one million watch movements a year. The Elgin National Watch Company dominated the U.S. watch market, and its influence was felt worldwide. The company's timepieces were owned by more Americans than any other brand. The firm was so renowned that a President of the United States had toured its operations. A blues tune praised a woman who had Elgin movements from her head to her toes. Less than fifty years after its 1920s zenith, the big factory would completely disappear and the American watchmaking industry would be in financial ruins.
On a national scale, the social, technological and economic forces that drove the century long history of the Elgin National Watch Company were part of America's emergence as an industrial power. The eventual decline of the company was a harbinger for many American industries. Globalization would take industrial jobs elsewhere. Newer technology changed timepieces from complicated, miniature, hand assembled machines into simple electronic devices produced in vast quantities at extremely low cost using only a handful of employees.
The company and its host community grew together, each contributing values, tradition and prosperity to the other. Their fates and identifies became intertwined. This book is an account of the company and city during their beginnings and growth and ultimate separation.
Price: $37.50
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