Roll over image to zoom in Click on image to zoom

New York Transit Token Watch

Name: New York Transit Token Watch
Brand: Tokens & Icons
SKU: 17NYC
Price: 265.0 USD
Availability: InStock

This watch is hand crafted from an authentic 70's era 7/8" Y-cut New York Transit Token. The dial is made from a "revenue bag" that was used to transfer tokens throughout the system.

Leather Strap Color

Variant

$265.00

In stock

For the pre-Metrocard era New Yorker who remembers when it was the token that got you uptown. This watch features a 40mm brushed stainless steel bezel & case-back, engraved "Authentic 1970–1980 NYC Token." Mineral crystal, genuine leather strap with contrast stitching. Choose cognac or black. Battery operated Swiss movement. Each watch comes gift-boxed with a certificate of authenticity. One year warranty from date of purchase

Strap length measures 197mm (approx. 7-3/4")

Officially licensed by the New York MTA. For more than 20 years now, the NYCTA, now known as the MTA, provided Tokens & Icons with thousands of transit tokens directly from its depository. Receipts and documents for each purchase of tokens are kept on file at Tokens & Icons' headquarters. All items created have gone through a stringent approval process by the MTA. The entire collection is also offered for sale in the two NY Transit Museum Stores in New York. Given this longstanding relationship, you can be 100% confident with the authenticity of your purchase.

Watches have a one year warranty from date of purchase.The movement uses a type 364 battery, should replacement be required, take to your local jeweler or send to us.

How Tokens & Icons Came to Be

Tokens & Icons was founded in 1991 when Ward Wallau was approved for a license with the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA). This occurred eleven years after he first approached them in 1980 when they filled in the "Y" of the quarter-sized "Y-cut" subway token.

After collecting a hundred of the "Y-cut" tokens, Ward thought they might be a logical way to reincorporate the tokens into New York's daily life and celebrate them as an icon of the city's rich transit history. With his first fifty pairs of authentic New York Subway Tokens, he received positive feedback and thus began his decade-plus endeavor to secure a license.

During the eleven years, Ward had intermittent contact with the NYCTA, and finally secured permissions from the NYCTA and the authentic tokens. He and Bulova Watch were the charter licenses. Bulova chose to replicate the tokens, yet Tokens & Coins (the original name of Tokens & Icons) was able to embark with the long sought after "authentic" token.

#block-1633379536ff525566-0 .slideshow__slide-inner { background-image: url(//cdn.shopify.com/shopifycloud/shopify/assets/no-image-2048-5e88c1b20e087fb7bbe9a3771824e743c244f437e4f8ba93bbf7b11b53f7824c_1400x.gif) }