Rockford Grade 165 - Enamel Dial - One of the Factory's Last - 1911

In 1911 two Illinois cities were putting their own names on American watches. Springfield had the Illinois Watch Company, already one of the great factories of the age. Farther north, beside the Rock River, a smaller factory had spent nearly forty years cutting another city's name into steel and gold. Four hundred citizens of Rockford had raised the money to build it in 1874, and it built for the railroads, where an error of half a minute could put two trains on the same track. Its watches stood equal to Illinois and often finer. Rockford had four years left.

The Rockford here left the factory in those final years. The movement is the grade 165, and the company's surviving records show three runs of one thousand, three thousand ever made. Four years after it was finished, the doors closed and Rockford watch production ended for good.

The dial is white enamel, fired glass on metal, signed Rockford in fine script beneath the twelve. Tall black Arabic numerals curve around the wide white field, and the seconds turn in a sunken register above the six. The hands are blued steel, and the blue lives in the light: the minute hand flashes bright as it catches it, and the hour hand darkens almost to black as it turns away. A few tiny specks sit on the enamel, and I see no crack or chip.

Under the back, the broad nickel bridges are cut with damascening in a pattern of waves, the lines flowing around polished screws, ruby jewels, and the warm copper of the wheels. Rockford Watch Co follows the curve of the upper bridge and 15 Jewels is cut into the lower, with the serial 864068 stamped in the plate, the number that dates the watch and names its grade in the factory's records.

The movement and dial began their life as a small open face pocket watch, and like most watches of the years around the First World War, they were fitted into a wristwatch case, the way pocket watches crossed onto the wrist before, during, and after that war. Inside the back it is stamped 10K R.G.P. Bezel and Stainless Back. The gold surfaces are strong, with light scratches and small marks around the bezel, the case sides, and the lugs. The crystal is glass, domed, and clear. It comes on a caramel lizard grain strap, which is not original to the watch.

Among the old watchmaker marks scratched inside that back is a date that appears to read 4-23-43. The Rockford factory had been closed for twenty-eight years, the movement was already living in this wrist case, and a watchmaker was still opening it, marking his work, and sending it back out to be worn. The watch runs and keeps good time. Its service history beyond that old mark is unknown.

Terms: Please review all photos carefully as they are a part of the listing. This is a vintage timepiece. Accuracy, power reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Vintage watches may require periodic service. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position.

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