Thread: New toy

Picked this up at the Portland Antique show today. It's a 1920's Elgin pocket watch in very good working condition. I also saw a Crown and Sword there with really nice scales, but there was a ton of rust on the blade and I was only able to talk the guy down to $60. Ah well.

Very nice!

RT

That one's gorgeaous. Nice catch!

X

Nice Watch. Don't let Jay's bud Mitch see it. In addition to being a part time barber, he's an old railroad guy and a super artist. Magnificent at depicting old railroad stuff. Great works of art. Lynn

Before the introduction of Standard Time Zones in 1883, train conductors would be tirelessly checking the time. Each train was associated with the time it left its original location. So the 9:05 Buffalo train left Buffalo at 9:05 regardless of what time it was in say Chicago when it got there. Chicago would also have its own idea of what noon was so there was a lot of math involved in the Conductor's job at first. A dependable watch (or two!) was a MUST have for the job.

X

True, dependable watches for the railroads were an absolute necessity but this particular watch is not one of that standard. Railroad watches have to have a minimum of 17 jewels and a dial with Arabic numerals, not Roman. Elgin created millions of watches and as such there are still a ton of spare parts available on the market for these. Elgin was considered middle of the road in the market of pocket watches. They didn't create fine Swiss timepieces, but they certainly didn't create Casio-quality (or lack thereof) quartz watches. Even though this one only has 7 jewels it keeps time very well. I'm still just figuring out how many winds it takes for the watch to run for a solid 24 hours. I think it's 8, but don't quote me on that.

Here's some more information if anyone is interested in reading further on this.

I've been collecting watches especially pocketwatches for many years now. Don't talk about Swiss "fine" watches the American Railroad Grade pocketwatches would blow away any Swiss timepiece any day of the week. Whether it be a Hamilton, Waltham Elgin or Illinois or some of the other lesser known brands those watches were quality and made to last forever with proper care. Your watch should have about 40 hours of power reserve and should take at least 20 turns to wind fully. Just wind it until it doesn't go any more.

The one thing I do not want to do is to kill my mainspring by overwinding and I know you can do that very easily. I only need to keep it going for one day, I'll just wind it up again the next day and not worry about having to get the bugger repaired sooner than I prefer.

Bravo! That is a beauty. Watches have been catching my eye lately. I am not sure why all of my "hobbies" are so pricey...fine English Shaving Creme, fountain pens, colognes, etc. We are lucky I suppose.

Steven