It's That Time Of Year
We have your weekly round-up below, but first...
We wanted to remind you of our Holiday shipping cut-off this coming Monday the 20th. Any orders placed after that day will be shipped after our holiday break. As we've done in years past, the entire Vortic team will be off from 12/24/21 to 01/03/2022.
We'll do the best we can to keep up with emails and social media, and there will still be Watch of the Day watches coming out each Monday to Friday, but we won't ship any orders until January. From our whole team; thank you and Happy Holidays!
Here's your Weekly Roundup!
The time is now (pun intended) to pick your one-of-a-kind Vortic Watch. Our team has been working hard to provide you with a variety of unique timepieces. Take a look, there's something for everyone!
Click the images of the watches to learn more about them. Make sure to check the website at 12 PM Mountain Time for the Watch of the Day! They tend to sell quickly.
We are happy to present to you this wonderful timepiece from the Elgin National Watch Company, our Chicago 449. We are amazed by the incredible details of this very clean and bright dial, with intricate gold and silver details all across the dial that really bring everything to life. The combination of Roman numerals with Arabic numerals around the outside is a unique touch and adds to the character of this dial.
Our machined titanium case and nickel-plated hardware throughout continue the soft silver-colored theme and make for a perfect combination of visual interest. We love the subtle patina that covers the majority of the different surfaces inside this movement, showing its age and bringing attention to the fine details that have been intricately machined all throughout. 17 ruby jewels have been screw-set with stainless steel hardware, keeping everything spinning on track nicely. The spiral patterns on the mainspring barrel and crown wheel keep your eye spinning with the gold-plated gears beneath and add a little extra flair to the overall visual display.
This watch was originally manufactured in Elgin, Illinois in 1922. Meanwhile, in Onawa, Iowa Christian Kent Nelson was hard at work securing the patent for his Eskimo Pie invention. Nelson was a schoolteacher and candy store owner and came up with the idea of the iconic ice cream bar when a boy in his store couldn’t decide to spend his money on ice cream or a chocolate bar.
We couldn’t be more excited to share this absolutely stunning timepiece from the Waltham Watch Company, our Boston 413. We love this incredibly unique design in the center of the dial, nicely accented by these gold-colored numerals and bright blue full-moon hands.
The attention to detail is astounding, and we love the level of craftsmanship that was displayed in these antique watches. We topped it off with copper hardware and a stout strap that ties everything together. As if the front of this watch isn’t enough to grab your attention, this movement inside will beg to be shown off. A lovely pattern has been machined all across the different build plates, keeping the eye moving around to explore each and every small detail. This Royal movement from Waltham displays 17 press-fit jewels, with copper settings. Gold-plated gears and a brass balance wheel show through from beneath, while stainless steel hardware holds everything in place.
This watch was originally produced by the Waltham Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1924 among a small run of 5,000 others similar to it. On November 4th of this year, the very first woman governor was elected in Wyoming. Nellie Tayloe Ross served as governor until November of 1926 and remains the only female governor ever to serve in Wyoming. She later was appointed as the head of the U.S. Mint and was also the first woman to ever hold that position.
We are happy to bring you this fantastic watch from the Elgin National Watch Company, our Chicago 451. We love the look of this iridescent case and how it brings your attention in for a closer look at the dial. Very intricate machining of this double-sunk dial leaves us with this fantastic pattern in the center, as well as a nice amount of design work around the edges of the numerals.
Nickel-plated hardware stands out against this black cordovan strap and brings a nice touch to this beautiful antique movement. As we peer inside the back of this watch we are immediately drawn to the many different patterns that cover the entire surface of the build plate. Gold-plated gears hide beneath, paired with a brass balance wheel and jewel settings as well.
A light flower design on the Moseley regulator is the sort of extra touch that we really love to see on these antique Elgin movements from this era. Originally manufactured all the way back in 1912, the same year that the Titanic encountered an iceberg and sunk in the ocean. The wreck took more than 1500 lives, and the ship was not found until 1985.
We are proud to present this incredible timepiece from the Illinois Watch Company, our Springfield 454. We are absolutely thrilled to show off how breathtaking this dial is, with such intricate machine-work on the center of the dial. If you look closely, you will be amazed by the small flowers that sit atop this shield of arms.
Gold-colored features such as the numerals and minute indicators blend nicely with our gold-plated crown while sitting inside of this soft sandblasted titanium case. The details continue as we turn this watch over to reveal an amazing 21 jewel movement, originally produced in Springfield, Illinois in 1922. Brass settings and hardware all throughout give this watch a nice precious metal feel, as well as gold-plated gears that can be seen beneath. A large build plate fills the space, lightly decorated with Geneva lines that carry over and create a cohesive design.
The Illinois Watch Company produced around 3,900,000 watches in 1922, with around 68,000 of those movements being Grade 274. 1,000 of those watches from that batch were this small run of 21 jewel movements that would have looked very similar to this watch, likely with a variety of different dials to go with them. We love to dig deep and track down information on these old movements and provide the small details along with each watch we send out.
We have the pleasure of bringing you this amazing watch from the Waltham Watch Company, our very own Boston 411. All of our watches were originally cased inside of unique pocket watch cases, and this particular watch happened to have a case that was squared off instead of perfectly round. The designers leaned into this shape with this unique design on the dial that now stands out and contrasts our perfectly round, machined titanium case.
If you look closely you will also notice these carefully machined lines that curve all across the face and bring that extra flair to the visual appeal. More intricate details continue as we peer inside the movement of this watch, with incredible details machined throughout all of the separate build plates. We find 17 press-fit jewels that power this watch, as well as gold-plated gears and a brass balance wheel. Stainless steel hardware pairs well with the shiny glimmer of the nickel-plated elements, tying everything together nicely.
This watch was originally produced by the Waltham Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts in 1924. In this same year, we also see the passing of the Immigration act of 1924, which made abrupt changes to the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States. Before this time, Ellis Island was a prominent entry point for the United States and quickly was changed to a deportation point for illegal aliens who had violated the terms of admittance.
