Hello Jeannie,
Thank you for sending in your antique pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today.
Title:
Gent’s, 16s, gold filled, pendant wound and pendent set, keyless, savonette, hunting case pocket watch, Grade 312, made by the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, circa 1917.
DESCRIPTION:
Case – 2” diameter case, size 16, four leaf, gold filled, hunting case pocket watch, double hinged with knurled edges of both covers which are engine turned with engraved foliate gilt frames enclosing a shield shaped cameo on both sides one with a landscape scene, the other left blank for the owner’s initials. On the inside we see the mark of the casemaker, The Philadelphia Watch Case Company (see history) and that the gilt finish is guaranteed to last for at least 20 years. There is a suppressed fluted ball pendant and gold bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge.
Dial - White enameled dial with upright black Arabic hours, open bar minutes with red Arabic markers placed every five minutes along the dial edge, subsidiary seconds @6, steel spade hands and the upper dial signed, ‘Elgin’. The glass crystal over the dial is cracked.
Movement – This is a damascened nickel, split three quarter plate movement, the grade 312, model 6. Class 109 movement made by the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, serial number 19862181, made in 1917 in a run of 2000 such movements in a 16 size made with 15 ruby jewels with pendant winding and setting, quick train, going barrel, Breguet Hairspring and a Moseley regulator, signed with name, location and number by Elgin.
Condition: Case – Speckles of oxidation on the covers and inside leaves of the case.
Dial – Few speckles and missing its seconds bit hand.
Movement – in good condition and assumed to be functional.
HISTORY:
The Elgin National Watch Company was founded in 1864 in Elgin, Illinois as the National Watch Company. In 1874 the name was changed to the Elgin National Watch Company. Between 1864 and sometime in the 1960s, Elgin manufactured tens of millions of pocket and wrist watches. The Elgin National Watch Company was for a time, one of the largest industrial concerns in the world. Elgin pocket watches from the early years are particularly interesting because of the methods and philosophy of the Elgin Company. Elgin used what were at the time quite advanced tools, techniques and labor practices to achieve a very high quality product, in high volumes, at a relatively affordable price. Elgin watches were created using mechanized, repeatable processes, organized quality control and standardized, interchangeable, parts. These things are all common practices in industry today, but not so at that time. The result was a product of high quality made in large quantities that dwarfed that of Elgin's competitors. Prior to Elgin's time, watches were made completely by hand, frequently by a single craftsman, from start to finish. Repairs could only be completed on such watches by someone with sufficient skill to fabricate replacement parts, from scratch, from raw material. Elgin watches on the other hand, were mass manufactured and highly standardized. Spare parts were provided by Elgin that were drop-in replacements for the originals. Elgin was extremely successful with this strategy. In fact, the company introduced more than half the watches made in America from 1920-1928. An Elgin advertisement in 1928 claimed that there were more than 14,418 retail jewelers in the United States and all but 12 carried Elgin.
The history of the Philadelphia Watch Case Co. is quite complicated and I am going to simplify it here. The company originated just after 1884 a few years after its owner Theophilus Zurbrugg bought the Leichty & Le Bouba watch case company also of Philadelphia. After the name did become the Philadelphia Watch Case Company they continued to grow by merging with bates & Bacon, crescent watch case company and the Keystone watch case company. They moved to Riverside, New Jersey in 1902 and operated under the old Philadelphia name until their offices closed in 1953. Keystone, although part of this huge merger continued to work primarily out of Philadelphia as well as Riverside, New Jersey.
The pocket watch database provides a market value for your watch, in its current fair condition of about $120-$140 if sold at auction. A retail price would be somewhat higher.
I hope that helps you in understanding what makes your watch tick, literally and figuratively.
My best,
David