Vintage Watches

The revolutionary success of the reliable low-cost quality British Ingersoll Pocket Watch was accomplished by turning a formerly crafted and hand-finished product into a mass-produced item, distributed through an progressive and large-scale implement of advertising. These design and advertising process were the brainchild of Robert Ingersoll, the child of a Michigan farmer, that had no prior experience on the watchmaking industry.

The storyline begins in 1880, by which time the 21-year-old Robert and his younger brother Charles roared to life a general mail-order business, focused in a variety of goods evenly priced at a dollar. Success was fast, no doubt as a result of Robert's entrepreneurial style, that in 1892 they felt confident to release a pocket watch at a dollar and a half, the equivalent of a day's pay, at a moment when a similar pocket watch cost about $15. The Universal pocket watch, composed of a small clock mechanism housed in a pocket watch case complete with back winder designed by Robert Ingersoll, was a bet that paid off with the aid of intense advertising. As a consequence the Ingersoll bros made the decision to focus exclusively on the watch market.

Three years after, Robert Ingersoll's goal to produce a dollar pocket watch grew to be reality and the Yankee was created. Later advertising puffs would talk of 'Ingersoll- the watch that made the dollar famous'. Year-long guarantees slipped into the back of each case were an early characteristic, setting up what was to become a hallmark of the Ingersoll reputation - reliability.