The Rockford Watch Company was probably the least successful of the major American watch making companies. Founded in 1873 it bought all of it's equipment from the failed Cornell Watch Co. and sold it's first watch in 1876. Rockford produced several fine railroad watches and these proved very popular amongst railroad men. The company started to experience problems in 1896 but struggled on until finally closing the doors in 1915. Total watch production by Rockford was about 1,000,000 watches of all types.