Our storied History
Chicago Watchmaking Since 1922
For over a century, our family has built watches in the heart of Chicago. Now in our fourth generation, we still make each one to carry a name, a date, a story worth keeping.
Swiss movements. Chicago soul. Your story.
Swiss movements. Chicago soul. Your story.
Hampden is an independent, family-owned watch company rooted in Chicago and powered by personalization. We design timepieces that don't just tell time, they tell stories.
Engraving is where that starts. Our Design Concierge works with you to turn the caseback into a design canvas, from a handwritten note to a signature to the date that mattered. What you put there stays there, for as long as the watch is worn and handed down.
Four Generations of Family Watchmakin, And a Name Reborn
Four Generations of Family Watchmakin, And a Name Reborn
For over a century, our family has built watches in Chicago. That continuity is what makes Hampden America's oldest family-owned watch company.
In 1922, our great-grandfather Hyman Wein founded the Clinton Watch Company in Chicago. He came from a family of watchmakers. Of the brothers and a brother-in-law who each started watch businesses, two companies are still running today: Hampden in Chicago and Marathon in Canada.
Along the way the family also founded the Wolbrook and Douglas brands and ran Benrus for close to two decades.
In 1958, our family acquired the Hampden name, a brand that traces back to 1877 and the golden age of American watchmaking. We have been its steward ever since.
We never stopped making watches. The family business has run without interruption since 1922, and the Hampden name it carries reaches back nearly 150 years.
We never stopped making watches. Hampden has been in continuous production since 1922, America's oldest family-owned watch company.
A STORY PASSED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
A STORY PASSED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
Joe Wein, a trained engineer and U.S. Army veteran, joined the business with his father Irving in 1985. As CEO since 2002, he has guided Hampden into the 21st century by streamlining operations, securing patents, and laying the groundwork for a new era of innovation.
In 2023, Daniel Wein joined the business alongside Joe, becoming the fourth generation in our century-old watchmaking lineage. The moment was marked by a watch engraved with four generations of names. That inscription became the vision for Hampden’s relaunch.
In 2025, we opened the doors to our longtime West Loop headquarters to celebrate our relaunch with family, collectors, and longtime employees. That gathering marked Hampden’s next chapter: one focused on personalization, meaning, and memory.
A Legacy Older Than Flight
A Legacy Older Than Flight
In 1903, a Hampden pocket watch was in Orville Wright's pocket during the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk.
The original Hampden Watch Company, founded in 1877 in Springfield, Massachusetts, was known for precision American timekeeping, trusted by railroad conductors, entrepreneurs, and early pioneers. The company ceased US operations in 1927. Its name, and the standard it set, live on through our family's stewardship and through design details that honor that era.
The Wright watch is now on permanent display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, in the Wright Brothers exhibition. It is the same Hampden name we carry today.
All Watches Tell Time. Hampden Watches Tell Stories.™
Innovation in Personalized Watchmaking: The Casecap® System
Innovation in Personalized Watchmaking: The Casecap® System
At the heart of the Sullivan, our flagship automatic, is the patented Casecap® system. With a single twist, you can swap a sapphire exhibition caseback for a deeply engraved one, so the watch can show its movement one day and your story the next.
It is the clearest proof of what we believe: a watch should carry something personal, and you should choose what.
Built to be worn, gifted, and handed down.
Four Generations
The fourth hand
Welcome to The Fourth Hand, the official Hampden Watch journal. Named for the fourth generation of our family business, this is where our watches meet your stories. From personalized heirlooms and family keepsakes to design inspiration and behind-the-scenes craft, explore how Hampden turns moments into custom engraved timepieces—rooted in a century of watchmaking.
