The Burlington Watch Co., of Chicago, IL, seems to have started up around 1908-1910 and lasted until approximately the mid-to-late 1920s. It was a mail-order sales operation selling directly to the consumer, eliminating the entire distribution and sales network. Almost all of the watches were made under contract by the Illinois Watch Co. and privately-labeled for Burlington. There are allegations that the Burlington Watch Co. was an operation owned and operated by the Illinois Watch Co. as a outlet for its medium grade movements. However, documentation supporting the allegations have yet to come to light. The very small few movements not made by Illinois were produced by Henry Moser & Co. of Switzerland. Apparently these were only sold in Canada, as they seem to have all been originally furnished in Canadian-made cases. Burlington's Canadian office was in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Since the vast majority of Burlington watches were made by the Illinois Watch Co., information about them is contained in American Pocket Watches Vol. 2, Illinois Watch Co., Encyclopedia and Price Guide, William Meggers, Jr. & Roy Ehrhardt, Heart of America Press, Kansas City, MO (available on loan by mail to members from the NAWCC Lending Library), 1985. In seeking information about a watch, it is the serial number on the movement (the "works") that is important. In addition to printed references, and Russell W Snyder's Illinois Data Base CD (available through The Early American Watch Club NAWCC Chapter 149, contact Jon Hanson at jonontime@aol.com) there are Oldwatch.com's Illinois Production Date Chart and the PocketWatchSite's Illinois Date Table which are an online means for determining the very approximate production date of Illinois pocket watches. In general, we think of serial number vs. date lists - created by using the average number of watches produced over a period of years - to only be accurate within a year or two at best, and recognize that there are numerous exceptions wherein which the dates may be off as much as 3 years or more. This is not just for Illinois, but for other watch manufacturers as well.

For about the first ten years, Burlington sold mostly 19-jewel watches, a large number of which were marketed as the "Burlington Special." A 1912 ad shows the classic open-face “Burlington Special” while the hunting-case model is shown in an 1911 Ad. The "Trust" referred to in the ads is the Watch Trust which controlled much of the industry.

Its difficult to know whether to call these watches Burlington Special's or just plain Burlington's. Burlington marketed their 19-jewel watch as the Burlington Special watch, but the only place that the "Burlington Special" marking appeared was on the dial. Thus the question arises, is a "Burlington Special" fitted with a different dial still a "Burlington Special"?

There were several models of 16-size, 19-jewel "Burlington Special" watches made by the Illinois Watch Co.:
19-Jewel Model 5
19-Jewel Model 9. Please note that the movement in the Model 9's picture is missing the regulator whipspring and its associated mounting and adjusting screws.

Early on, Burlington contracted for a few 21-jewel, model 5, Sangamo grade movements, such as this Example with its Burlington Special Dial, courtesy of John Cote & his Interstatetime Co. Being adjusted to temperature and 6 positions, it was widely accepted for railroad service. Pictures of another example of a 21-jewel model 5 Sangamo grade movement and its dial may be seen at Global Horology, thanks to Larry Soucheck.
Then, in February 1917, Burlington discontinued the 19-jewel watches and introduced a complete line of Burlington 21-Jewel Watches, adjusted to temperature and positions (the number of which was unspecified). Perhaps the most common of the 16-size, 21-jewel Burlington watches was the Illinois-built Model 9.

Burlington advertised heavily in the Railroad Brotherhood Journals with ads such as appeared in a 1915 Railway Conductor issue, and, after the 21-jewel Burlington was introduced, in the November 15, 1919 issue of the Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine. This was in spite of the fact that, except for the model 5 Sangamo grade mentioned above, only a portion of the railroads seem to have accepted Illinois-Burlington watches for railroad time service. To quote from page 71 of Railroad Watches Identification and Price Guide, Roy Ehrhardt & William Meggers, Jr., Kansas City, MO, 1995 (available on loan by mail to members from the NAWCC Lending Library),
This same book lists the following Illinois-Burlington grade watches as railroad watches: 106, 107, 108 & 809 (they seem to have somehow missed listing the Sangamo grade). The movements of all of those grades mentioned are marked "Adjusted to Temperature and Positions," the number of positions not noted. Although there may be Illinois descriptions of to how many positions the Illinois versions of those grades are adjusted, there doesn't seem to be any documentation of the number of positions to which the Burlington Versions are Adjusted. And, the possibility exists that the Adjustment was Performed at Burlington, such that Illinois would have no knowledge of what was done.

There were a very small number of 16-size, 21-jewel Swiss-Made Burlington Watches that met all railroad time service requirements, with the exception that in the U.S., on a number of railroads, American manufacture was required for many years. However, the Swiss-made 16-size, 21-jewel, Burlington watches are Documented as Having Been Used in Canadian Railroad Time Service.

In the mid-1920s, the Burlington Watch Company offered its 16-size, 21-jewel Burlington Bull Dog in the Nawco (North American Watch Co.) Heavy Duty RR case (Which Also Carried the Burlington Name). See the February 1999 NAWCC Bulletin, pages 87-8; and the December 1997 NAWCC Bulletin, page 709. There's nothing to distinguish the Burlington Bull Dog from the other 16-size, 21-jewel Burlington watches except for the "Burlington - Nawco" signed case and the "Burlington Bull Dog" signature on the Dial. If these items had been switched around, one could only infer from the serial number that it was a Burlington Bull Dog based upon its serial number being from the same run as other Burlington watches that had the Nawco case and "Burlington Bull Dog" signed dial. Even then, its not certain that all the watches in a given run were fitted with that case and dial.

Another variation created by Burlington in Canada was that apparently the Burlington Bull Dog was marketed there as well, but it was a Swiss-made Henry Moser Burlington Bull Dog fitted in a Canadian-Made Cashier-Burlington Case. Like the Illinois-built Burlington Bull Dog watch, the dial on the Swiss-made watch is the only indication that the watch is a Burlington Bull Dog.

Burlington also offered a full line of 12-size dress watches, as may be seen in this 1922 Ad. Pictures of one interesting 12-size example may be viewed online thanks to Steve D. (scroll down). There were also a small number of Swiss-built 12-size (or perhaps 14-size) watches.

It should be noted that after the first couple of years (and maybe even then), Burlington watches were originally furnished in Burlington-signed, gold-filled cases and were fitted with Burlington-signed dials (pictures of both have appeared in some of the above examples).