Actually, the dollar watches came much earlier... more
by Alan N.
The original Ingersoll's were the Dollars. See this link from your post below, on the Timex book (a very good read this book). Ingersolls weren't watch men, but sold what they thought could make money. They hit the big time with their inexpensive watches very early on, and seemed to concentrate exclusively on watch product after that. At some point, the name "Ingersoll" on anything watch-wise meant it had a good chance of selling, and the Bros. were probably agreeable to allow many firms to make watches with their names on them, for them to distribute. Not surprising then that there are jewelled watches with Ingersoll stamped on movement. Many of of the Ingersoll watches were probably made well past the time that the men were actually involved with it. The "Ingersoll" Mickey Mouse is a famous example of how a well-known name turned around a nearly failing company, though the Ingersolls themselves were either dead or destitute!
Need to get a picture of the movement of this Everest watch!
"..."dollar" watch, trumpeted in advertising as "The Watch That Made the Dollar Famous." It was the brainchild of a clever marketer named Robert Ingersoll, who, starting in the 1880s, had been selling a range of miscellaneous merchandise—typewriters, sewing machines, cameras and other items--all priced at just one dollar. Ingersoll contracted with Waterbury Clock to make watches he could sell for the same price. They were a commercial triumph. By 1900, Ingersoll had sold 6 million of them."
Posted on Nov 24, 2001, 10:10 PM from IP address 24.179.210.206