This item is a Fahys watch case, dating back to around 1885. A watch case was the decorative outer shell of a pocket watch, designed to house and protect its movement, or “works.” Cases were typically produced and sold separately from the watch movements.

In the late 19th century, pocket watches became increasingly more accessible to working class Americans, as the introduction of industrialization and mass production made widespread usage more common and affordable. This production became incredibly relevant to local Sag Harbor industry during this period with the establishment of the Fahys watch case factory.

The factory was built in 1881 on the site of a former cotton mill by French immigrant Joseph Fahys. Fahys had previously started his career in watchcase manufacturing with companies in New Jersey and New York before relocating his work to Sag Harbor. The factory began operating as Fahys Watch Case Co. shortly after and brought a new booming industry and a diverse population to Sag Harbor.

By the late 19th century, Fahys Watch Case Co. was the largest manufacturer of gold and silver watch cases in the country. Fahys died in 1915, and the factory closed its doors in 1931 at the height of the Great Depression. However, it was leased in part to a subsidiary of the Bulova Watch Company in 1937. By the World War II era it had fully reopened, employing nearly 500 people, half of which were women. During its most lucrative period, the factory produced 30,000 watchcases per week. In the early 1980s, while operating as the Bulova Watchcase Factory, its doors closed for the last time. The site remained vacant until the fall of 2011, when construction began to turn the building into condos.

View of Sag Harbor showing Fahy's Watch Case factory c.1890. Image courtesy of John Jermain Memorial Library Local Community Archives Center, Sag Harbor, N.Y.

Postcard depicting the watch case factory, c.1912. Image courtesy of Pocket Watch Database.