Star Watch Case Company

The Star Watch Case Company manufactured watch cases. Watch movements (the mechanical mechanism), the dial, hands, glass that covers the face of the watch (sometimes called the crystal), and some of the crowns (the button used to wind the watch) were made in another location and shipped to Star to assemble the final watch product. Some of the companies it made watch cases for were Manistee Watch Company, Hamilton, Longines, Elgin, Gruen, Omega and Pulsar.[1]

Pocket watch cases were the only product made to World War I.[2] They were solid gold or gold filled, sterling silver, rolled nickel-silver and brass.[3] They included open face style and hunting style cases.[2] After this time wristwatch cases were additionally produced. The company also manufactured certain military items during World War II.[4]

The company started in 1897 making watch cases as an Illinois watch company in Elgin, Illinois. The founders were Otto A. Starke, Fred Hermann and Alfred W. Church.[5] Sometime around 1902 to 1903 there was a large fire that destroyed the factory. The materials were well insured, so the factory was able to recover from this. At the time the factory had 27 employees and was a bustling business. The Illinois watchcase company changed its name sometime between 1903 and 1905 to the Star Watch Case Company.[6] The company incorporated on February 7, 1905. The first officers of the new Star Watch Case Company were Otto A. Starke as its president; Fred Hermann, vice president; Warren Antoine Cartier, secretary; and Alfred W. Church as the treasurer.[7]

Star Watch Case Company moved in 1905 to Ludington, Michigan. The initial factory building was built on south Rath Avenue and had expanded by 1910.[8] By 1913 it had about 150 employees. There was a north and south wing added to the main building in 1920. The company employed 400 men and women in 1925.[9] Another expansion wing for tool and die equipment and machinery was added in 1927. An addition for a new company office was made in 1943.[8] The company was Ludington's largest employer and had a peak employment of about 550 employees at its height, which was in the middle of World War II. The building for the company was three stories for offices and manufacturing. Over time it expanded to over 70,000 square feet.[5] The company is sometimes referred to as the Star Watchcase Company.[10]

Fritz A. Baumgartner was the company's key hand engraver from 1906 in the Ludington factory. Other hand engravers were Emil Allemann and Otto Starke.[6]

Star Watch pay stub of 1947 showing the 14-year-old girl was paid 73 cents an hour, which was $5.84 per day. In 40 hours (one week pay) she earned $29.23 for week ending May 15, 1947. A loaf of bread cost 13 cents and 10 pounds of potatoes cost 38 cents.

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  Star Watch factory, c. 1905
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  Star Watch factory, c. 1920
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  1919-1924 Star Watch logo
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  Star Watch polishing tanks

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  Employees circa 1919
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  Case fitters, circa 1919
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  Fitting room, circa 1920
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  Engineering Department

Pocket watch cases were 90% of Star's production up to 1938. Upon the entry of the United States in the Second World War the factory was converted to making brass compass cases, small weapons, and submarine parts. The company had a reputation for making quality military stainless steel military watch cases and cases for military compasses.[5] During World War II the company also manufactured components of military navigational aides. One such military component was the top secret Norden bombsight, used for dropping bombs accurately from airplanes in World War II.[11]

Star Watch Case Company made watch cases for the model Omega Speedmaster Professional, one of which was worn by astronaut Eugene A. Cernan on a trip to the moon.[12] This watch is commonly referred to as the "Moonwatch."[13][14] Other like models of Star's were worn on various space missions.[13][14]

Andrew Hallberg invented a pantograph machine that allowed up to 32 watch backs to be engraved at the same time. Star watch Case Company was the patent owner of this invention since Mr. Hallberg was an employee of the company. The cutting-edge technology was kept secret so competitors would not learn of this mass-production method. This gave the company an advantage in fast watch case production.[5]

The tool and die engineer would place the watch cases in a fixture that would hold them in place. A Master Plate design was then selected for the design desired. The pantograph machine would then reduce the design and accurately reproduce it on the backs of the watch cases. The operator would use a lever that followed the Master Plate design and the diamond tipped cutting tools would cut the design into the blank watch cases. The pantograph machine invented by Andrew Hallberg around 1910 led to hand engraving of pocket watches becoming obsolete after 1930.[7]

• "Star" Gold-Filled, guaranteed for 20 years as late as November 1906, 25 years by April 1909
• Defiance Gold-Filled, guaranteed for 10 years
• Majestic Gold-Filled, guaranteed for 5 years
• Stellar, 10K Rolled Gold Plate case
• Scepter, Gold-Filled or Rolled Gold Plate case
• Excellence, Silver case

The raw materials Star Watch Case Company used for watch cases were gold, silver, nickel, brass, zinc and chrome-plated cases; solid gold or gold filled being the most preferred. Their gold supply in bars was held in a local Ludington bank, then as need some bars were transferred to the factory for melting down. The factory always held around $200,000 worth of gold at any one time for watch cases of 10, 14, or 18 karats.[6]

An early popular design was of the battleship USS Maine (ACR-1) that had a well known slogan of Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!.[5] The company's trade mark is a five-pointed star and also the double-headed eagle.[4] Additional Trade Marks that were used are below:[15]

Star Watch Case Company brick

The beginning of the end of the company came when Elgin Watch Company decided in the 1950s that a single vendor should not supply more than a third of the company's needs. Star Watch Case Company was dropped off their list of suppliers of watch cases when they obtained another company that made such cases. Two decades later the company was all but out of business. In 1979 it was sold to Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère and by 1982 it was entirely out of business. All of the company's furnishings and machinery were soon sold. The building was demolished in 1995.[1]

• Manistee Watch Company

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Star Watch Case Company.

• Niebling, Warren H., History of the American watch case. Library of Congress Card Number 74-152358, Whitmore Publishing 1971

• Memoirs of a Watch Case Engraver - The Autobiography of Fritz A. Baumgartner (1866-1943) the company's key engraver.