The story of the Elgin Watch Case Company is a bit confusing due to the legal challenges related to the "Elgin" name.

In 1888, the Illinois Watch Case Company was incorporated in Chicago. Two years later, the company decided to build a factory in Elgin, Illinois, to manufacture watch cases. During the transition, the company attempted to reorganize as the Elgin National Watch Case Company, attracting objections from the Elgin National Watch Company. The watch company had been established in Elgin for over twenty years at the time.

In December 1892, a judge ruled that the case company could not utilize the "Elgin" name, so the company readopted the Illinois Watch Case Company name.

However, to establish and reinforce its claim over the "Elgin Watch Case Company" name, the Elgin National Watch Company briefly organized a watch case company. In partnership with Benj. Allen & Co., the Elgin Watch Case Company (organized by the watch company) produced a small line of gold-filled cases. These watch cases were offered for sale in the 1894 Benj. Allen catalog (and possibly other years; the 1894 edition is the only one available for study at this time).

In the 1894 catalog, the line of 14K gold-filled cases was advertised under "The Elgin Watch Case Company," with the following note:

"All "Genuine" Elgin Watch Case Co.'s Cases are stamped in back of Case with their Trade Mark, (a Four-Leaf Clover). None genuine unless so stamped."

This strategic move to establish a claim to the name by the Elgin National Watch Company was reported by Mr. Allen in the December 9, 1896 issue of The Jewelers' Circular.

With this understanding, all cases marked with a clover, described above, are products of the Elgin National Watch Company's brief watch case production to solidify claim to the name. All other cases with loose "Elgin" names from this era (Elgin Pride, Elgin Commander, Elgin Giant, and Elgin Tiger) are products of the Illinois Watch Case Company.

Even though the Illinois Watch Case Company operated under the Elgin National Watch Case Company name for a short period of time, all case grades on this website are indexed under the Illinois Watch Company for simplicity. The "Clover" case grade is indexed on this page, attributed to the company created by the Elgin National Watch Company.