1925 ELGIN Pocket Watch 12s 17j Gold Wadsworth 14k GF Case Runs Art Deco

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1925 ELGIN Pocket Watch 12s 17j Gold Wadsworth 14k GF Case Runs Art Deco:
$199.99

Grade: 345

Manufacturer:Elgin
Manufacturer Location:Elgin, Illinois
Movement Serial Number:27466452
Grade:345
Model:3
Class:114
Estimated Production Year:1925
Run Quantity:10,000
Total Production:735,901
Size:12s
Jewels:17j
Movement Configuration:Openface
Movement Finish:Nickel
Movement Setting:Pendant
Plate:3/4 Plate
Barrel:Going
Train:Quick
Regulator:Moseley
Adjusted:No
Railroad Grade:No

THIS ANTIQUE ELGIN POCKET WATCH - LOW SERIAL NUMBER YEAR 1925 PENDANT WIND PENDANT SET MOVEMENT IN A BEAUTIFUL RARE GOLD WATCH CASE - RUNNING WELL THESE LOW # MODLES ARE GETTING HARDER AND HARDER TO FIND!!!

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL GOLD WADSWORTH CASE - SHINY - FEW DENTS IN GOOD USED CONDITION - FACE COVER SNAP ON AND OFF EASLY THE MOVEMENT READS : ELGIN NATL WATCH CO. - ELGIN ILL - THIS 17 JEWELS ORIGINAL ELGIN MOVEMENT RUNNING WELL.

THE ORIGINAL DIAL IS IN GREAT BEAUTIFUL GOOD CONDITION - GLASS CRYSTAL IS CLEAN IN EXCELLENT USED CONDITION

THREE HANDS ARE NICE

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL WATCH GREAT FOR YOUR COLLECTION

A Quick History of the Elgin National Watch Company

Elgin was founded in 1864, right as the civil war was coming to an end. The first watch Elgin made, an 18 sized B W Raymond railroad grade watch, was finished in 1867 and over the next 100 years, they went on to produce about 60 million watches. Elgin produced their first wristwatch around 1910, leading most other American watch companies by many years.

Elgin was originally called the \"National Watch Company\". The name never really stuck and in 1874, they changed their name to the \"Elgin National Watch Company\" because most of the watch trade and public were calling them \"watches from Elgin\". They kept that name until the late 1960s when they stopped producing watches and changed their name to the \"Elgin National Industries\".

Elgin was founded on the idea of mass producing high quality pocket watches using machine made, interchangeable parts. Up until around 1850, watches were made mostly by hand, which meant that if a part broke, you had to find someone with the tools and skill to make a new part. Elgin realized that there was a large market for good watches that could be sold and repaired relatively cheaply using factory made replacement parts that didn\'t require hand adjusting.

Elgin never made the very highest quality watches in the world, nor did they make the very cheapest, but together with Waltham (aka The American Watch Company), they dominated the vast middle ground of the watch market.

Today, collecting Elgin watches is quite popular. Because Elgin produced so many watches and produced so many spare parts, they can still be easily bought and fixed, so even a 100 year old Elgin can be used, with care, on a daily basis. While mechanical watches can\'t compete with quartz watches for accuracy, there is something about having a watch that ticks that a quartz watch just can\'t replace.

The National Watch Company of Chicago, Illinois was incorporated on August 27, 1864 with a capital of $100,000. The incorporators were Philo Carpenter, Howard Z. Culver, Benjamin W. Raymond, George M. Wheeler, Thomas S. Dickerson, Edward H. Williams and W. Robbins.

In September of 1864 a visit was made by some company representatives to the Waltham Watch Co. and seven of their key people where lured away to work for the newly formed company and they were nicknamed the Seven Stars. The bait used was a $5,000 a year salary for 5 years, a $5,000 bonus and one acre of land on the company\'s, soon to be acquired, 35 acre site (some things never seem to change). Since turn about is fair play, Elgin lost several of the Seven Stars to the Illinois Watch Co. a few years later in 1869.

The Seven Stars were all machinists first and watchmakers second. One of these men was Charles S. Moseley and he became the factory\'s first superintendent. He had been in the watch business since 1852.

The Elgin businessmen had been informed that if they wanted the company to be located in Elgin they would have to donate 35 acres of land. The towns people would also have to put up $25,000 (keep in mind that the war was on and all the young men where gone). The requested location for the company was on a farm with absentee owners. The owners refused to sell unless the entire farm property of 71 acres was purchased at a price of $3,550. Four local businessmen purchased the land and donated the 35 acres. The company was re-organized on April 25, 1865 with a capitol of $500,000.

The first movement was delivered from the factory April 1, 1867 and was named in honor of Benjamin W. Raymond. It was an 18 size, key wind, and full plate, with quick train and straight-line escapement arranged to set on the face and was adjusted to temperature. At that time watches took six months to complete and the B. W. Raymond model sold for $117 at a time when pork chops sold for three cents a pound (several years ago this watch was bought at sale by the city of Elgin for $15,000).

On July 16, 1867, a new watch was made and it was named the H. Z. Culver. The slow train was then adopted on all the new movements brought out and they appeared on the market as follows; J. T. Ryerson, October 14, 1867; H. H. Taylor, November 20, 1867; G.W. Wheeler, November 26, 1867 and Matthew Laflin, January 2, 1868. (Laflin and Ryerson both sat on the Elgin\'s board of directors and Laflin\'s family did so for more than 70 years.)

On May 20, 1869 the first \"Lady Elgin\" made its appearance and was the first of a series of 10 size movements and it was also key wind. This was followed on August 24, 1870 by the Francis Rubie, which was adjusted to temperature, on September 8, 1871 by the Gail Borden (of Elsie fame) and on December 20, 1871 by the Dexter Street.

Elgin and most other watch companies sold their movements to wholesaler\'s who then sold them to the jewelry shops. The customer would pick out the case of his choice, add the dial and then the jeweler would put them together. Only about 10% of the cases sold were solid gold.

The first stem wind movement was placed on the market June 28, 1873.

On May 12, 1874 during a special stockholder\'s meeting held in Chicago, the name of the company was changed to \"The Elgin National Watch Company. This was thought to be advisable because the movements manufactured by the company were universally known as and called \"Elgin Watches\" or the \"Watch from Elgin\".

In 1888 the factory was producing about 7,500 movements per week, about one fifth of which were key wind and one tenth of the movements were nickel. The factory had 2,300 employees at this time and they were split 50/50 between men and women but not so their pay. The women earned about $6 per week while some of the men earned as much as $3 per day and this was for a 6-day workweek.)

During World War I the United States Army had the Elgin factory train more than 350 men to make the precision repairs required in the battlefields.

It was during the Second World War that all civilian work was stopped and Elgin made military watches, chronometers for the U.S. Navy, fuses for artillery shells, altimeters and instruments for aircraft and sapphire bearings used in the aiming of cannon. The Elgin Company was awarded ten Army-Navy \"E\" awards, for full filling contracts ahead of schedule.

The Elgin Company diversified after World War II making decorator clocks, transistor radios, wedding rings, but the heart\'s beat was the Elgin watch. That heart beat had been getting slower every year and Elgin ceased to depend on the watch factory as its main enterprise. The clock tower of the National Street plant was torn down October 7, 1966.

The world\'s largest watch manufacturing complex was located in several buildings from its inception in 1864 until the last Elgin movement made in the United States was completed in Elgin, South Carolina, in 1968.