File:Elgin National Watch Company Observatory (8489885794).jpg
Original file (3,416 × 2,620 pixels, file size: 3.68 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Captions
Summary
[edit].jpg&action=edit§ion=1){kind=link}
| Description |
The Elgin National Watch Company Observatory (1910). It is the last remaining significant structure closely associated with the famed pocket watch company. In 1864, two employees at the American Watch Company in Massachusetts decided to move out west and set up a watch factory in Chicago. Former Chicago mayor Benjamin Wright Raymond instead suggested Elgin, a burgeoning nearby city well-serviced by rail. Raymond helped to raise $100,000 for the founding of the National Watch Company. As the country increasingly became industrialized, accurate and efficient timing became a must. In the years following the civil war, demand for pocket watched skyrocketed. By 1907, the company, renamed the Elgin National Watch Company after its hometown, had nearly 1/3 of the market share, selling 600,000 watches. Watchmakers ran into a common problem in those years in that there was no standard time. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt mandated that the US Department of Standards encouage common and accurate timing across the nation. Watchmakers were forced to find a way to ensure accurate timing of their watches. Elgin National responded by constructing an observatory. With an observatory, Elgin National could track sidereal time, the measure of the Earth's rate of rotation relative to the stars. This was compared to measurements of solar time, based on the sun's position in the sky. These two measures combined to make Elgin National's watches accurate within 1/100th of a second. The company adopted the slogan, "Elgin Takes The Time From The Stars And Puts It In Your Pocket." The Illinois government also simultaneously used the building for weather tracking purposes. Like most industries, Elgin National was hit hard by the Great Depression. Swiss manufacturers began to dominate the market and the United States Time Corporation developed a cheap, disposable pocket watch for the common man. Elgin National closed its doors in the late 1950s |
| Date | |
| Source |
Elgin National Watch Company Observatory
|
| Author | Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois |
| Camera location |  | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap |  |
|---|
.jpg¶ms=042.030153_N_-088.273698_E_globe:Earth_type:camera_source:Flickr_&language=en){kind=link}
Licensing
[edit].jpg&action=edit§ion=2){kind=link}
- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
|
This image, originally posted to Flickr, was reviewed on 8 November 2013 by the administrator or reviewer File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), who confirmed that it was available on Flickr under the stated license on that date. |
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 04:20, 8 November 2013 | | 3,416 × 2,620 (3.68 MB) | File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr by User:AlbertHerring |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
There are no pages that use this file.
.jpg&oldid=881612857){kind=link}