Hello Louis,
Thank you for sending in this antique gold pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. Your photos have been restored and I can proceed with this fair market value appraisal for you. This appraisal is priced as if sold on the watch market, not into the gold market (although that is calculated for you as well, below).
TITLE:
Gent’s, 6s, 14k yellow gold, pendant wound and pendant set, savonette, Art Nouveau era, hunting case pocket watch, grade 132, model 2, S/N 6089549, made by the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, made circa 1895/1896
DESCRIPTION:
CASE: 39mm diameter (not counting the pendant and bow), size 6, three leaf, hunting case pocket watch, 14k yellow gold with a fluted ball gold pendant and round bow placed at the three position *savonette) opposite the case hinge. The covers are worn but were fully engraved with flowers, leaves and vines on both sides, one with a central engraved landscape scene with a house and the other cover with a central cameo with two or three script letters for the original owner. The last letter looks like a “J” or ‘T’, the first like an ‘S’ and perhaps a middle initial that might be an ‘A’. The case decoration which stresses the natural surroundings is very much in the theme of the Art Nouveau era of c. 1880-1910. The barrel or edges of the case is filled with small foliate engravings. On the inside of the cover, the case is warranted for 14k gold by US Assay, inscribed with a case number of 82437 and most importantly with the initials, 'B.W.C. Co.' inscribed inside a dog-bone cameo. This represents the Brooklyn Watch Case Company, the maker of this gold case. (See History section)
DIAL: Round white enameled dial with black Roman hour chapter ring, closed bar minute track to the outside, sunken subsidiary seconds dial @6, blued steel American style Spade hands and the upper dial signed in Olde English style, ‘Elgin’.(See History)
MOVEMENT: This is a size 6, split three quarter gilt-nickel, plate movement, the Grade 132, model 2, Class 56 movement, made by the Elgin National Watch Company of Elgin, Illinois with serial number ‘6089549’ indicating 1896 as the year of manufacture and made in a run of some 5000 similar movements. Each movement contained 15 ruby jewels, some seen in screw settings, mostly made for hunting cases. The movement has a going barrel (movement continues to keep time when being wound), quick train (a watch that vibrates at least 18000 beats per hour), plain index regulator and the movement made with no position adjustments for accuracy and not of railroad grade. The movement is properly signed and numbered by the Elgin firm.
CONDITION:
Case: Quite worn engravings, but original and genuine throughout.
Dial: Indication of early flaking of the white dial paint. Otherwise original and the dial has no hairlines. Good condition.
Movement – Appears to be correct for this case, clean and is said to be functional.
Weight - 63 grams
HISTORY:
~BROOKLYN WATCH CASE COMPANY:
In business from 1865-1890s in Brooklyn New York, when purchased by Joseph Fahys who made watch cases in New York, Carlstadt, New Jersey, and Sag Harbor, Long Island. The firm started in New York City in 1865 and soon moved to Brooklyn (at that time, a separate city, one of the countries largest) in 1866. The company started out by making gold and silver cases, but production of the silver cases eventually ceased. In Brooklyn gold-filled cases, and 14-karat solid gold cases were made, but the firm was best known for its line of Eagle, solid 8K or 9K gold cases. Sometime in the late 1890s or early 1900s, Brooklyn Watch Case Company was bought out by the Joseph Fahys Watch Case Co. who had been listed in Brooklyn ads since 1896 as their selling agent.
~ELGIN:
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 watches.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/111714442_elgin-14kt-gold-hunting-case-pocket-watch (SOLD, FOR $750 IN 2021)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/112955142_authentic-elgin-pocket-watch-6-size-14k-hunting-not 9passed at auction because it failed to reach $1100)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/111349171_elgin-14-k-hunter-s-case-pocket-watch (Sold for $375in 2021)
~The pocket watch database provides a fair market value if sold on the watch market in this condition in the range of $650-$750.
PRICING:
ON THE WATCH MARKET -
Seeing the worn condition of this 14k gold antique Elgin pocket watch, I would think that if offered for sale in the open WATCH marketplace it would have a fair market value in the range of $675-$725. Retail price would be close to the $1000 mark. If you are considering selling this watch on the gold market (which would destroy the watch) I will give you some approximate value for that as well –
ON THE GOLD MARKET – weight is 63 grams = 2.22226 ounces x 40% (40% approximately is made up of gold metal in a hunting case pocket watch with the remainder of 60% being the dial and movement) = 0.8889 ounces of 14k gold x 0.583 (14k gold is 14/24ths pure gold) = 0.5185 ounces of 24k pure gold x $1,733.(today’s price of gold per ounce) = $898 less a retail 15% fee = $765 to you if you sell the watch on the gold market.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for you appraisal.
My best,
David