Hello Gary,
Thank you for sending in your pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal.
TITLE:
Gent’s, Size 12, Art deco, pendant wound and pendant set, white gold filled, open face pocket watch,
Grade 303, Model 3, S/N 29290752, made by the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, circa 1927.
PROVENANCE:
Was owned by my father, John C. Robinson, until his passing. To my knowledge has always been in the family.
DESCRIPTION:
Case/condition – 12s open face pocket watch with a white gold-filled, fluted ball pendant and embossed oval bow placed at the twelve position relative to the dial. The white gilt back cover has an embossed ring of small foliate designs, and a similar one on the glazed bezel overlying the dial.
The interior of the case is not shown, but I am told that there is no gold hallmark and is marked with the Keystone watch case Company as the casemaker. The back cover has a small ding in it and a small amount of superficial scratches, but is otherwise in good condition.
Dial/condition: Matte silvered metal “ghost” upright Arabic hour chapter ring, closed bar minute track to the outside, polished silvered subsidiary seconds dial @6, steel Art Deco “lozenge” variant hands and the dial is marked, “Elgin” in the upper dial center.
Movement/condition: NOT SHOWN - This is a size 12, split three-quarter nickel plate movement, the Grade 303, Model 3, and Class 114, made by the Elgin National Watch Company with serial number 29290752 indicating the year of manufacture as 1927 when it was made in a run of 17000 such movements (more than 2.2 million such movements were made over the Elgin years). The movement plates are nickel and may or may not be damascened. It was made for an open face pocket watch, such as yours. The watch is pendant wound and pendant set. It has a double roller for stabilizing the pallet fork when it contacts the balance producing a greater power reserve on a single winding, a going barrel which maintain the correct time while winding the watch, a quick train indicating a watch that vibrates greater than 18000 beats per hour. There is a bimetallic balance wheel for keeping accurate time during changing temperatures and Breguet hairspring. The watch is made with seven ruby jewels, but is not adjusted for accuracy in different positions and is not of railroad grade. It is properly signed and numbered by the Elgin National Watch company. This movement is not shown and is assumed to be original to the case, genuine and is in functional condition.
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 watches.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/125115015_elgin-gold-filled-hunter-case-pocket-watch (A larger yellow gold filled Elgin watch sold for $200 in 2022)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/123850693_elgin-white-gold-pocket-watch-and-chain (14K Gold chain with 14k gold filled Elgin watch managed to sell for $500 in 2022, mainly because of the solid gold chain.)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/120132165_early-20th-c-elgin-white-gold-filled-case-pocket-watch (a ghost dial in this Elgin white gold filled case sold in 2022 for $110)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/120132167_early-20th-c-elgin-white-gold-filled-case-pocket-watch (another similar gold filled Elgin, quite handsome sold for $110
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/117374346_gold-filled-elgin-pocketwatch (sold for $90 in 2021)
PRICING:
This is a white gold filled, functional Elgin size 12 and because of the nice ghost dial I would put the fair market price in the range of $110-$125. Thank you for straightening out the proper numbers on the movement and I hope I have gotten them properly with the watch they belong to. I have removed the Condition appraisal value from this particular watch.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your appraisal.
My best,
David
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Dear Gary,
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry. So that I may best assist you, can you please show me the inside of one of the covers with markings on it.
Here you have the movement number correctly listed.
Thanks,
David