The First Oberlin Watch

The First Oberlin Watch

Oberlin of Besançon

A funny thing happened on the way to the launch of the Oberlin Watch Company. While I can say with a fair amount of confidence that there has never been an Oberlin Watch Company before, curious to relate? There was an actual Oberlin watch!  

For those of you who are not well-versed in French pharmaceutical history, allow me to inform you that going back more than 100 years ago, there was a French pharmaceutical company named, you guessed it - Oberlin!

The watch pictured above was actually created by a French watch making company based in Besançon.  As far as I (and others) have been able to figure out, the Oberlin Pharmaceutical company likely purchased a group of watches from the manufacturer and had them "branded" with their company name - Oberlin.  These were pocket watches that were equipped with a chronograph (stop watch) function and pulsometer scale to enable accurate readings of pulse and heart rate.  These watches were given as promotional gifts to doctors and pharmacists to help promote the Oberlin Pharmaceutical brand.  

So unlike some other brands out there, we're not going to claim this as any sort of  faux historical tie, but it is a pretty cool coincidence!

1 comment

Hi Mr. Henderson, Linda and I are 1962 graduates of Oberlin College and would like to buy one of your black faced Crimson and Gold watches. Please contact us about selling one. We stopped at the Willow jewelry store in Oberlin at our 60th reunion but they closed before we could buy a watch directly from them. Thank you😊

Dick Clark

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