i believe there was once a swiss watch company called "Litwin Watch
Co."  I would like to find any online resources that catalog the
watches manufactured by the company and/or detail the history of the
Litwin Watch Co.

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 22 Jan 2003 01:37 PST

Hi matthew,
I have searched all Swiss watch manufacturers and there is no listing
for that company. Are you sure of the name? Do you remember whether
the watches themselves went by that name? Anything at all you can
recall will help in this search. Thanks.
Regards,
rainbow~

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Clarification of Question by matthew852-ga on 22 Jan 2003 05:11 PST

rainbow,

i am 99.9% sure that there was a swiss watch company called "Litwin
Watch Co.," believe they produced watches in the 1960s.  i believe
that the company existed because i saw reliable photographs on eBay
for a watch of this make (both the case and the mechanism were marked
"Litwin Watch Co.").  before submitting the question, i did a lot of
web searching on my own, but was unable to find any information on the
company.

thanks

matt

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 23 Jan 2003 09:50 PST

I have found the company that made Litwin watches.  The president of
the company confirmed that it did make Litwin watches, but not any
more.  He noted the decades when the company made these watches and
the type of movements that were often used (which are Swiss).  He also
stated that the company can generally fix those watches.

I did not find any additional history of the company's watchmaking
business on the web, though there is a basic history of that company
available.  I also did not find a catalog of the watches.  However, I
can give you the contact information for the company, if you have
questions.

Should I post an answer about that company, with the foregoing
information?

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Clarification of Question by matthew852-ga on 23 Jan 2003 11:49 PST

yes, please provide all detail regarding the company, contact
information, history, etc.  i would also be curious to know how you
made initial contact with the company.  thank you.  -matt

Hello matthew852-ga, 
 
The company is called Boris Litwin Jewelers.  It is located in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and has two web addresses:
 
http://www.borislitwin.com 
http://www.litwin.com 
 
If you look at the "Litwin" logo (at the top left of the site pages),
it should be familiar to you.  It is very similar to the "Litwin" logo
on the Litwin Watch Co. watch, at least from the evidence of this
watch recently sold on eBay.  (I found the watch through a search on
the Advanced Search page --
http://pages.ebay.com/search/items/search_adv.html -- under completed
items for: litwin.)
 
"60's 18K Solid White Gold Swiss Litwin Watch", offered by
cranster@aol.com (Jan-22-03)
eBay 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2609562232&category=3940
 
The heading for this item says "60's", and the category says
"pre-1920".  Actually, neither of these dates seems to be correct. 
The president of the company says that it made Litwin watches through
the 40s and 50s, though no longer.  (If you contact the company, you
might want to check if it made the watches just in the 1940s and
1950s, or before then as well.)

As I mentioned, the company can generally fix these watches.  The
movements were often Ebel movements; Ebel is a Swiss watch company.

Ebel
http://www.ebel.ch
 
As I mentioned, the Boris Litwin Jewelers site has a basic history of
the company.  It notes that "in the early days, the focus was on
manufacturing; only later was the retail end added.  After some time,
the focus of Litwin's was purely retail."
 
"Grandpa Boris' Bench" 
Boris Litwin Jewelers 
http://www.borislitwin.com/history/ 
 
Articles in Cincinnati newspapers indicate that the company has been
in downtown Cincinnati since 1913, and that brother Max, Boris, and
Jacob were in the business.

"Get to it" (February 07, 2002)
The Cincinnati Enquirer
http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/02/07/tem_get_to_it.html

"Athletes see Jack for sparkle", by David Wecker (03-13-01)
The Cincinnati Post
http://www.cincypost.com/2001/mar/13/wecker031301.html

You can contact the company as indicated here:

"Contact us"
Boris Litwin Jewelers
http://www.borislitwin.com/contact/

As to how I found the company, I was lucky.  I searched on Google for:
litwin watches.  A couple of the results mentioned Boris Litwin,
including one page on watch repair shops:

"Watch Repair Shops: Now Showing Ohio"
WebsitesHQ
http://watchrepair.webshq.com/directory.php3?S=Ohio

I then searched on Google for: "boris litwin".  I found the site, saw
that its logo was similar to the watch listed on eBay, and decided to
contact the company.

I hope that the information in my answer is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga

P.S.:  My apologies for initially posting part of the answer as a
comment.  I have contacted the editors for removal of the comment.

Superb work on the part of justaskscott.  He was resourceful and
provided the exact information I was seeking.

I have contacted a company that might have been the Litwin Watch Co.,
or might know about it.  I'll let you know if I receive a reply with
useful information.