Hello Nick,
Thank you for sending in this family pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that tonight.
TITLE:
Gent’s gold filled, pendant wound and pendant set, savonette, hunting case pocket watch, made by the Elgin National watch company, Elgin, Illinois, circa 1890’s. The watch is accompanied by a gilt ringlet, 36cm, adjustable length watch chain with T-bar, ad tassel fob.
DESCIPTION:
Case: 40mm case diameter, gold filled, hunting case pocket watch with suppressed fluted ball pendant and round gilt bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge. The outer cover is embossed with vertical guilloche designs with outer ‘C’ scrolls and foliate patterns with a shield shaped cameo in the center for the owner’s initials. The inside of the cover has not hallmarked and is therefore considered gold plate, gold filled or rolled gold, not solid gold. The pocket watch is attached to a 36cm gilt ringlet watch chain of adjustable length with T-bar and tassel. I do not know the quality of the gilt metal and see no hallmarks to indicate solid gold.
Dial: White enameled dial with black upright Arabic hours, open bar minutes with Arabic markers placed every five minutes around the dial. There is a sunken subsidiary second’s dial @6, steel spade hour hand and missing minute hand. The upper dial is signed Elgin.
Movement: Not shown but would be a pendant wound and pendant or lever set movement, but that is all one can say. The movement should be signed by Elgin and carry a serial number.
Condition: Case –It appears the cover has come off of the case, but it remains in good condition.

Dial –Edges of the dal are dirty and there is a porcelain dial chip at the 23-minute marker. Missing minute hand. Movement – Not seen nor evaluated, so we cannot precisely date this watch except to the 1890’s when the majority of savonette pocket watches were manufactured. In fact, we do not know if the movement inside the case is correct or replaced.
ELGIN HISTORY:
Elgin 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
Pricing:
In its current condition and being a non-solid gold case, the fair market value of this late Victorian pocket watch is going to range from $80-$100. That includes the watch chain. If the watch were solid gold and the chain were solid gold, we would be talking about four figures for this watch, but I see no evidence anywhere that this is 14 or 18k gold. If this watch was in perfect condition it would only have a fair market value of $150-$175. Thank you for choosing mearto.com of this appraisal and once again I wish I had better news for you. (If you can prove to me that either the watch or the chain is solid gold I will revalue this appraisal for you.)
My best,
David