Pocket Watch Database
Location: Manistee, Michigan
Years of Operation: 1908-1911
Organized in 1908 with a capitol of $100,000. The first watches started being finished at the factory in June 1909 and retailed for $13-15.
Production Jewels: 7-17 Jewels
Production Sizes: 18s, 16s
Total Production: ~19,000
Factory Building Status: Demolished
Special Research Assistance: Andy Dervan
Serial Number Lookup
After the company failed, existing inventory was sold.
A 1914 issue of The Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review features a classified ad selling 600 17-Jewel Manistee Watches for $8.15 each (sold by Dan I Murray).
Detroit Free Press, May 11, 1908 May 1908
The plans for the Manistee Watch Company factory begin to be settled.
Detroit Evening Times, June 11, 1908 June 10, 1908
The Manistee Watch Company was organized with a capital of $100,000. A factory is constructed at the cost of approximately $30,000.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 8, 1910 October 1910
Five Swiss dial makers working at the Manistee Watch Company factory are deported with thier families due to a technicality of the immigration law. Newspaper reports as many as seventeen watchmakers were deported. A small international scandel resulted after the men reported to have been harshly treated by officials, being held at Ellis Island for a month.
July 27, 1911
The Michigan Trust Company is appointed receiver of the Manistee Watch Company despite the company officiers claiming the company is not insolvent.
September 13, 1912
The Manistee Watch factory is sold to William Rath for $5,300 by a group of trustees.
The Jewelers' Circular Weekly, March 25, 1914 March 1914
Dan I. Murray advertised a closeout of 600 Manistee watches, available for $8.15 each.