Hello Miguel,
Thank you sending in your fathers gold Elgin pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I will be happy to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Gent’s 12s, 18k yellow gold, keyless, pendant wound and pendant set, savonette, hunting case pocket watch, Grade 314, made by the Elgin Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, USA circa 1922.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE – 12s, four leaf, 18k yellow gold, hunting case pocket watch with a fluted suppressed-ball pendant and oval bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge. The outer covers are not shown and are assumed to be undecorated. The inside of the cover reveals that the case was made for Elgin by the Keystone Watch Case Company (see History section) of Philadelphia. It also carries the case serial number and the 18k gold mark. . .
DIAL - White enameled dial with upright black Arabic hours, open bar minute ring, sunken subsidiary seconds dial @6 and Continental style Steel 'Spade' hands. The upper dial is marked, Elgin. . .
MOVEMENT - A damascene decorated, nickel, split three-quarter plate movement, the grade 314, model 2, class 113 movement made by the Elgin Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, S/N 24842675 (made in 1922 in a run of 2000 such movements), 12s with 15 jewels - some in screw type setting, pendant wound and set, with double roller and going barrel, bimetallic balance wheel and jeweled index regulator, signed and numbered by Elgin. There are no adjustments nor is this pocket watch movement of railroad grade.. . .
CONDITION – Case: Outer covers not shown but assumed to be in good to very good condition. Dial: There are several small hairline fractures at the periphery of the dial. There is also some scuffing either on the dial @ 9 & 10 or on the crystal overlying the dial. Movement: Appears genuine, clean and likely still functional. The biggest hurt to value is the dial. . .
HISTORY: KEYSTONE WATCH CASE COMPANY:
In 1853 Randolf & Reese Peters were making watch cases in Philadelphia, employing James Boss in their movement department. In 1859 - J. Boss received a patent for "spinning up" cases made of "gold-filled" type material. That is, material made of a sheet of composition metal (usually brass) sandwiched between two thin sheets of gold. Boss formed cases by rolling sheet metal as opposed to the traditional method involving soldering and cutting. Rolling increased the molecule density of the metal. His patent, No. 23,820 of May 3, 1859, revolutionized the watch case industry by enabling the production of not only less expensive, but considerably stronger cases. ... Unlike gold washed cases, which were made using electroplating, cases produced by means of rolling had much harder gold surfaces and were thus less apt to wear. In 1871 Boss sold patent rights to John Stuckert of Philadelphia. By 1875 - T.B. Hagstoz & Charles N. Thorpe at 618 Chestnut St. Philadelphia purchased the "J. Boss" patent from the estate of John Stuckert. Hagstoz & Thorpe seems to have made only gold-filled cases using the J. Boss patented method. Orders increased so rapidly that larger quarters became necessary immediately. A new plant on Brown Street was erected. In 1877 the E. Tracy case company, a manufacturer of solid gold and silver watch cases, was acquired. In 1880 - the company moved to a six story building on Nineteenth St., with an equal-size annex on Wylie St. from 1883-1885 - T.B Hagstoz withdrew from the company which became C.N. Thorpe Co. and shortly thereafter it was reorganized as the KEYSTONE WATCH CASE COMPANY. The firm was producing 1,500 cases per day by 1889. By merging with and purchasing other watch case and watch making companies Keystone, by 1911 was the largest watch case company in America. . .
Comparing your watch to other similar examples sold recently at auction I find the Fair Market Value (auction value) to be in the range of $800-$900. The retail price may be twice that value. I hope I have been of help to you today.
My Best,
David