Men’s 1910 Illinois Cushion Shaped Watch

The Illinois Watch Company is, without question, one of the jewels in the crown of American Watch Houses. Organized in Springfield, Ill. shortly after the Civil War, the company turned out during its 58-year run some of the most magnificent timepieces ever to come to light in this country. Pocket watches with names such as "Bunn Special," "Sangamo Special" and "Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire" and wristwatches such as the "Piccadilly," "Marquis" and "Speedway" – all went from innovation to wide reception to legend. Illinois was farsighted enough to be one of the first American manufacturers to chase the silly idea of marketing a wristlet for men. Having made "convertible wristlets" for women, which could be used as a pendant, hung from a pin or worn with a cord or chain around the wrist, Illinois saw the rabid reception that wristlets received during WWI and felt the time had come for expanded wristwatch manufacture. 

Illinois Watch Company, known for their obsessive attention to detail, produced watches that were exciting, elegant, and extraordinarily well-crafted. Today these watches are prized by collectors and designers for their look and reliability.

Magnificence has many forms, one of which is this exceedingly early WWI-era Illinois wristlet watch with high-grade 17 ruby-jeweled movement. We cannot overstate the beauty of this 37mm by 31mm watch, from its porcelain dial with stylized Arabic numerals and "stained-glass" hands. This timepiece represents the first wave of the wristlet watch – later the wristwatch – coming from WWI era Europe. Influenced by the trench watches of the era, this watch sports a gorgeous design and pre-Industrial look men love to wear.

Open its snap-back and you'll find a magnificent little time-machine: a completely restored 17 ruby jeweled mechanical mechanism that keeps accurate time as it was intended. Engineered during a time when the automobile still sported wooden spokes, this historic wrist-machine, in all its perfection, is glorious. Few mechanisms today are as well engineered as this example.

We are delighted to offer this work of wrist art fitted with an early N.O.S. lizard strap and housed in a period presentation box.

We love our overseas buyers, but if the watch is purchased outside the U.S., we must replace the strap with a leather one.