Pocket Watch Database
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Years of Operation: 1894-1901
Criterion Watch Case Mfg. Co.
Manufactured cases in the 1890s. The company was organized in August 11, 1894 with a capital of $50,000. The original directors were Alonzo Schwartz, Walter H. Fitzgerald, and Thomas J. Keigharn. By October, the company had secured P.J. Babcock, former manager at the Crescent Watch Case Company's Chicago office, as manager.
A question/answer column published in the August 11, 1897 issue of The Jewelers' Circular included the company in a list of "manufacturers of cheap grade watch cases."
In April 1898, the company sued teh Toolip Gum Co. over an amount of $225.
In Septemeber 1898, the company factory, located at 171-187 Wallabout St. in Brooklyn, caught fire. Fortunately, the fire was confined and extinguished before the building was completely destroyed.
In October 1899, the company participated in the Chicago Horological Exhibition with various other case manufacturers.
The company also operated the Criterion Plating Works from the same location during this time.
The company was forced into bankruptcy in later 1901.
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