1910s Ingersoll Reliance Pocket Watch

A 1910s Ingersoll Reliance pocket watch.

In about 1880, Robert Hawley Ingersoll and his brother Charles Henry recognized the need for an inexpensive watch that nearly anyone could afford. 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 catalogue at a price of $1.

Ingersoll opened up two new factories at Waterbury and Trenton, New Jersey. By 1899, their production was 8000 watches per day, and in 1901 Ingersoll advertised that their watches were sold for $1 by10,000 dealers across the USA and Canada. Their advertising slogan was "The Watch that Made the Dollar Famous."

In 1917, the company introduced this particular model of watch, the "Reliance," a higher-grade jewelled watch. This was one of the few watches that Ingersoll said could be serviced rather than a 'disposable' product.

The stem-winding movement on this particular watch is ticking away nicely and the time keeping is good to around one minute over 24 hours. The movement is signed Robt H Ingersoll & Bro, USA. The Geneva style stripes across the movement are a good sign of quality.

The watch measures 48mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The screw-on case back is beautifully detailed and has a vacant cartouche to the centre.

The dial is signed Ingersoll Reliance, Made in USA. There is a faint hairline crack although it is difficult to see with the naked eye. Blued steel hands, subsidiary seconds dial and outer minute markers.

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All of our watches are checked over before listing, and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch.

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