Brief History: Ingersoll Watch Company

Including Serial Numbers and Production Dates

New York, New York

1892 - 1922

The Chicago World's Fair and Columbian Exposition of 1893 featured a new attraction built by

George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. which carried sightseers to the amazing height of 260 feet.

Ingersoll sold 85,000 watches at the Columbian Expo at a price of $1.50 each.

Ingersoll: The Watch that Made the Dollar Famous

In about 1880, Robert Hawley Ingersoll and his brother Charles Henry, operating in New York as a mail-order business, recognized the need for an inexpensive watch that nearly anyone could afford, to be sold for around one dollar. Both the New Haven Clock Company and the Waterbury Clock company had already produced inexpensive "clock-watches" that met the need that Ingersoll anticipated, but they had not achieved mass-market success or wide distribution. In 1892, Ingersoll placed an initial order for 10,000 watches from the Waterbury Clock Company, at a cost of 85-cents apiece, to be offered in their 1892 Ingersoll mail-order catalog at a price of $1. This watch was also offered at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition and World's Fair for $1.50, where it is estimated they sold 85,000 watches!

Workers at one of Ingersoll's watch factories

Manufacturing was carried out by contract with the Waterbury Clock Company and at two new factories owned by Ingersoll at Waterbury and Trenton, New Jersey. The Ingersoll company is credited with perfecting an efficient system of distribution which included uniform pricing at all retail outlets. By 1899, their production was 8000 watches per day, and in 1901 Ingersoll advertised that their watches were sold for $1 by 10,000 dealers across the USA and Canada. Their advertising slogan was "The Watch that Made the Dollar Famous."

Ingersoll purchased the Trenton Watch Company in 1908 and the New England Watch Company in 1914. In 1917, the company introduced the "Reliance," a higher-grade jeweled watch. In 1919, Ingersoll pioneered another innovation with the introduction of the "Radiolite" with luminous radium dial.

Ingersoll declared bankruptcy in 1921 during the post WWI recession. They were purchased by the Waterbury Watch Company in 1922 for $1.5M. In 1942, Waterbury was acquired by U.S. Time Corp, which continued to use the Ingersoll name.

Ingersoll Watch Company

Ingersoll Serial Numbers and Dates

Year	S/N
1892	150,000
1893	310,000
1894	650,000
1895	1,000,000
1896	2,000,000
1897	2,900,000
1898	3,500,000
1899	3,750,000
1900	6,000,000
1901	6,700,000
1902	7,200,000
1903	7,900,000
1904	8,100,000
1905	10,000,000
1906	12,500,000
1907	15,000,000
1908	17,500,000
1909	20,000,000
1910	25,000,000
1911	30,000,000
1912	38,500,000

Year	S/N
1913	40,000,000
1914	41,500,000
1915	42,500,000
1916	45,500,000
1917	47,000,000
1918	47,500,000
1919	50,000,000
1920	55,000,000
1921	58,000,000
1922	60,500,000
1923	62,000,000
1924	65,000,000
1925	67,500,000
1926	69,000,000
1927	70,500,000
1928	71,500,000
1929	73,500,000
1930	75,000,000
1931	76,000,000
1932	78,000,000
1933	82,000,000

Year	S/N
1934	83,000,000
1935	84,000,000
1936	85,000,000
1937	87,000,000
1938	89,000,000
1939	90,000,000
1940	92,000,000
1941	93,000,000
1942	94,000,000
1943	95,000,000
1944	96,000,000
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IMPORTANT:

Be sure to use the serial number on the movement (the works) of the watch. Do not use the serial number from the case.

Can’t find your serial number in the table? Click here for an explanation and example of how to use our serial number tables.

Need help finding the serial number on your watch? Click here for instructions on how to identify and open most common case types.

Only the higher grade jeweled Ingersoll watches, like the "Reliance," are really considered to be worth repairing. The lower grade "Dollar Watches," while an interesting piece of American history, are seldom worth the cost of repair and restoration unless the watch holds significant sentimental value.