John, Looks to me like the owner may have had that engraved. Maybe her name,or the name of his wife/girlfriend. I like it,makes the watch kinda special,more personal. I like personalized watches. I just bought a 1947 Elgin wristwatch with "To John from Dagmar"on the back. I'm now trying to decide if "Dagmar" is a woman or a man.
Posts: 475 | Location: Gainesville, Florida in the USA | Registered: January 22, 2009
According to the Hernick-Arnold "Hampden Watch Company" book on page 141 of their movement numbers the closest to 1708204 that I find recorded is 1708308 shown as an 18-size, 17-Jewel, Open-Face, Nickel Plate, Model 3, Pendant-Set, Adjusted, Dueber Grand model. Mike may be correct about "Lucile" being a jeweler's name. On page 105 of the Hampden book "Lucile" is not shown in the contract watch listings, perhaps someone else can check further in the book.
Unfortunately, there are no records of Hampden production, all those were lost when the factory was closed. There are other sites on the Internet that claim to have "look-up" information but we have found them to be unreliable, and therefore we do not recommend its use. The sightings found in the Hampden book mentioned above stand as the most reliable source.
Debbie
Posts: 5373 | Location: Northern Ohio in the U.S.A. | Registered: December 04, 2002
I may have found a link to a 19th century poem entitled "Lucile" by an English author. I will continue to check it out. It was quite popular from about 1860 to 1915. Thanks for your responses.
jg
Posts: 3233 | Location: Arizona in the USA | Registered: June 25, 2008
Lucille got around. Maybe it was named after B.B. King's guitar (a famous blues musician); or maybe, it was after the Everly Bros. song of the same name.
Posts: 803 | Location: Knoxville, Tennessee in the USA | Registered: September 02, 2009
