ID Hampden "Lucile"

December 24, 2010, 04:32

John A. Grennan III

ID Hampden "Lucile"

Can you help me with this Hampden watch. What does the "Lucile" mean. It looks factory engraved but...? Thanks. Photos take awhile to load.

jg

December 24, 2010, 04:37

John A. Grennan III

Another

December 24, 2010, 04:40

John A. Grennan III

Last one.

December 24, 2010, 06:31

Cecil McGee

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.

December 24, 2010, 08:07

Edward L. Parsons, Jr.

Cecil,

Dagmar is definitely a woman's given name, of German or Scandanavian origin.

December 24, 2010, 10:22

Cecil McGee

Thanks Ed,I was kinda wondering about John.

December 24, 2010, 23:49

Mike LaForest

In this case, I think 'Lucile' is probably a jewelers Last name.

December 25, 2010, 12:28

Jerry King

I agree Mike, more so than the name of a sweetheart....especially on the movement it's self....

Cecil, the male component of Dagmar is Dagomar....
And as Ed has said, the name is of German-Scandinavian origin, from the Old Norse, Dagmaer....

Merry Christmas All....

Jerry

December 25, 2010, 15:29

Dr. Debbie Irvine

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

December 26, 2010, 01:17

John A. Grennan III

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

December 26, 2010, 06:36

Cecil McGee

Don't forget "Lucile" by Little Richard.

December 26, 2010, 17:47

Mike LaForest

I googled 'lucile jeweler' and found one.

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.