Watch Description
What makes the Springfield 490 unique: Today, we are excited to present this breathtaking, luxurious piece originally manufactured by the Illinois Watch Company in 1932 — the Springfield 490. The watch’s dial features a white background and a beautifully understated circular center design. The dial also boasts lavish-looking gold-colored minute and hour hands and lighter-gold-colored numerals, which look stunning against the white background. We paired this one-of-a-kind piece with our scratch-resistant Machined Titanium case, making the complete design glimmer even brighter while emphasizing its sumptuous-looking hands and numerals. We also equipped the watch with a gold-plated crown that further expresses the timepiece’s opulence. On the back of the watch, you can view its 127-grade open-face movement with a nickel finish, pendant setting, and center bridge plate. It also boasts gold-plated gears powered by 17 stunning jewels. Finally, we paired the watch with our artisan-designed and comfortable Rye leather watch strap. The Illinois Watch Company initially manufactured the pocket watch in Springfield, Illinois, in 1932 — the same year that the Radio City Music Hall opened in Midtown Manhattan. The iconic venue located inside Rockefeller Center serves as the headquarters for the Rockettes, and it has hosted numerous important events, including concerts, movie premieres, the NFL draft, the Grammy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and the Tony Awards. The venue bears the nickname “the Showplace of the Nation” because of its cultural significance, and it became an official New York City Landmark in 1978.Movement Manufacturer Information
The movement inside of this watch was made by Illinois Watch Company. We call this model "The Springfield" because the company was located in Springfield, Illinois.
Originally called the Springfield Watch Company, Illinois came to Springfield, Illinois in 1869 while the "modern" watch industry was fairly new but highly promising. City officials felt that the addition of industry to the city of Springfield would be excellent for the city's growth. However, after a series of failures and re-brandings, the company had a slow start until 1903 when they decided to manufacture high-quality watches only. Eventually making some of the most beautiful watches of their time, the company sold to Hamilton in 1927. Hamilton continued producing watches under the Illinois name for some time, but the original Springfield factory no longer stands.
Legal Disclaimer: All product and company names, logos, brands, and other trademarks featured or referred to within Vortic's products and services are the property of their respective intellectual property rights holders, if any. Those intellectual property rights holders, other than Vortic, LLC, are not affiliated with Vortic, LLC, our products, or our website. They do not sponsor or endorse our materials.
Watch Specifications
- Manufacturer: Vortic Watch Company
- Warranty: Full 1-Year Warranty
- Case Dimensions:
- Diameter: 47mm
- Thickness: 12mm
- Lug to Lug: 55mm
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Case Material: Machined Titanium
- Crown/Hardware: Gold Plated
- Water Resistance: 1 ATM
- Crystals: Sapphire
- Case Back: Stainless Steel
- Strap: Leather
Movement
- Manufacturer: Illinois Watch Company
- Serial Number: 5521182
- Manufacture Year: 1932
- Function: Manual Wind
- Jewels: 17 Jewels
- Hands: Original
- Size: 12s
- Power Reserve: ~36 Hours
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The Movement
The engine that powers this watch is an antique American pocket watch movement. All the gears and springs that make it tell time are roughly 100 years old on average. We call these watches the American Artisan Series because we're celebrating the history and legacy of the artisan watchmakers who built this engineering marvel a century ago in the United States.
The Story
Today most pocket watches are scrapped for the gold or silver of the case (the outside of the antique timepiece), leaving the inside (what we call the "movement") as trash.
We take pride in upcycling these pieces of American history by salvaging as many as we can, then preserving them inside our wristwatches.
Our expert team of watchmakers restores the antique movement and then we manufacture a custom wristwatch case here in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The Strap
We partnered with Worn & Wound to produce a custom set of straps for our American Artisan Series watches. We now have 15 different colors to choose from including our two Horween Shell Cordovan options. These straps are made in the USA and are based on the Windup Model 2 Premium strap that Worn and Wound offers.
