Hello fellow watch enthusiasts.

First let me apologise for the lack of photo's. All I managed to take were too reflective or fuzzy. Imagine an Ingersoll black dial Radiolite wrist watch.

Some time ago, I bought the wrist watch from the US. I have finally spent quite a few hours in researching it and have come up with this. Please let me know what you think and if I am wrong please put me right. I am no expert but I know many of you are when it comes to American made watches.

The Waterbury clock company took a contract to make watches for Ingersoll in 1890. All the watches were manufactured with the Ingersoll name which was stamped onto the movement and written on the dial. However, this watch has no Ingersoll name on the movement or dial.

The movement has patent dates stamped onto the movement plate surrounding the barrel arbour.

MARCH 5 1907 REGISTERED TO WATERBURY CLOCK CO
JUNE 4 1907 REGISTERED TO WATERBURY CLOCK CO
SEPT 10 1907 REGISTERED TO WATERBURY CLOCK CO
MAY 24 1910 NOT FOUND
NOV 12 1912 REGISTERED TO WATERBURY CLOCK CO JULY 24 1914 REGISTERED TO WATERBURY CLOCK CO

The watch movement also has a serial number stamped onto it.....58022629..........If this movement were an Ingersoll one, it would make the manufacturing date 1921. However, Ingersoll went out of business in 1920.

I think the watch must have been made by the Waterbury Clock Company because it has their patent identifications stamped into the plate. But because the watch was made in 1921 and Ingersoll had gone out of business, the watch would not have Ingersoll's name on it.
The watch must have been retailed under the name WRISTLITE by the Waterbury Clock Company.

The following year, (1922) the Ingersoll business was taken over by Waterbury Clock Company. They continued making watches using the Ingersoll trade mark and so all subsequent movements and dials would have the Ingersoll name on them. Presumably, there would have been no breaks in the serial numbers on the movements

Perhaps this would explain why it seems impossible to find any reference to any watch called WRISTLITE on the internet. Such a watch would have only been manufactured between Ingersoll's demise and Waterbury Clock Company's taking over their business and again using the Ingersoll name.

So there I think we have it. An Ingersoll watch that isn't an Ingersoll watch.

What do you think?