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What American vintage will you be wearing today??...let's see some pics...

103K views 812 replies 64 participants last post by  CometHunter 
#1 · (Edited)


 

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#5 ·
Love the Illinois, Greg!

I'm not sure what I'll wear. At this point I have so many that I often try to go for a theme for the week.

Last week, being a short work week, I did Matching or Integrated Bracelets, because I'd just finished fixing the Elgin Curtis, with integrated Hadley bracelet on the left. The Lord Elgin Stratford on the right had been fiished some weeks earlier, and had gotten the correct NOS JB Champion bracelet. That was Monday and Tuesday.







Wednesday was this unnamed Elgin Deluxe.





Maybe this week I'll do Elgin's American Made automatics. I'll start with my 607...

 
#808 ·
Love the Illinois, Greg!

I'm not sure what I'll wear. At this point I have so many that I often try to go for a theme for the week.

Last week, being a short work week, I did Matching or Integrated Bracelets, because I'd just finished fixing the Elgin Curtis, with integrated Hadley bracelet on the left. The Lord Elgin Stratford on the right had been fiished some weeks earlier, and had gotten the correct NOS JB Champion bracelet. That was Monday and Tuesday.







Wednesday was this unnamed Elgin Deluxe.





Maybe this week I'll do Elgin's American Made automatics. I'll start with my 607...

 
#9 ·
A lot of my collection is already present in older threads! You just gotta look for it. Try searching on 'Theme'.

I'd observe that quality watches were quite expensive then, but they're still expensive now. Figure an inflation factor of about 10-fold for 1950 to today, and you get these watches selling in the $500-1000 range, which is about where you find Hamiltons and others now. Consider, though - for that price, you got a hand-assembled and timed, fully-jeweled mechanical movement, in a goldfilled case with a layer of gold thick enough to last through a decade or more of wear without brassing. Not so bad, considering!

One thing that HAS happened is that cheaper watches have gotten much, much better. First Timex and their durable and accurate unjeweled watches, and later quartz watches made it so you no longer had to choose between cost and accuracy. The cheapest $10 quartz watch is more accurate than all but the most expensive watches of the 1950s.

This is why I consider vintage American watches such a bargain. I often pick them up for less in 2013 dollars than they originally sold for in 1950 dollars! And they have years more life in them! They just need a little polishing, a new crystal and strap, and a real COA and they're good to go.
 
#13 ·
I'm sad to say this, but I don't think that's at all original. The case appears to be that of the 17j Lakeside*, but the dial isn't a Lakeside dial, and AFAIK no Elgin ever carried a dial like that from the factory. The closest to that effect would be the Cranston, but it's a completely different shape and not divided as much, nor with the divisions separated by lines.



*See at p107
 
#14 ·
I continued my Elgin's American Automatics theme yesterday with this 618:



and today with this 670, one of the Durabalance automatics introduced 8 years after Elgin gave up on the 607 and 618 Bumpers.



This was the first 760 I ever got, and still my favorite, with its 'Faux Pie-Pan' dial, and that stubby little seconds hand.
 
#29 · (Edited)
I'll be rock'n a WWI Elgin Trench Watch today!

Semi-Hermetic Illinois solid nickel case with a coin edge bezel and original factory crown.

This is the largest size 0s American made trench watch case produced during the Great War: 34.5mm without the crown.

(Size 0s cases from this era usually measure about 32.5mm)







 
#30 ·
I'll be rock'n a WWI Elgin Trench Watch today!

Semi-Hermetic Illinois solid nickel case with a coin edge bezel and original factory crown.

This is the largest size 0s American made trench watch case produced during the Great War: 34.5mm with the crown.

(Size 0s cases from this era usually measure about 32.5mm)







Another great WW1 restoration!...
 
#34 ·
THANKS! AFAIK, this is one of those 'outside' wraparound crystals, where the crystal snaps over a lip on the bezel. Other Horizon Look crystals had an internal lip that holds onto the bezel, and have to be put on with a crystal press. Neither one can really be removed and replaced with a crystal lift.

Also, AFAIK none of the Horizon Look models are front loaders, which Elgin referred to as "One-Piece Case". I think the two concepts are incompatible. They did, however, make a number of 760/761s in One-Piece Cases, as you know.

Through the 1950s, Elgin made a number of different kinds of 'waterproof' cases. The most unusual are probably some of the non-round ones, which have 4 small screws holding the caseback on. The movement is held in a frame, and there are gaskets on both sides of the frame. One engages the crystal, and the other the caseback. Tightening the screws compressed the gaskets, supposedly sealing the movement. The frame had a tube for the stem, and a standard waterproof crown with O-ring. Great in theory. In practice, the hardened steel screws easily strip the brass threads in the case, or the screw heads rust - they weren't stainless! And based on the condition of a lot of the dials, they weren't really well sealed!
 
#35 ·
I wanted to post this last week, but I didn't have one pic. Finally took the pic on Saturday, then went to transfer to my PC, and the camera batteries were dead. "No problem" I thought, "I'll just get the other pair in the charger!" No dice. The younger boy used them in his game controller.

FINALLY, the things got recharged, and I got the picture uploaded to Photobucket.

Here goes: Last week, my theme was "15/0 Lord Elgins".

Monday, I wore what's often called the 'Driver', though Elgin didn't ever call it that in any ad from its introduction in 1939 till the last one was made sometime in the early 1950s. It's got a 538, the first 21j 15/0 movement:



Tuesday, I wore this one. It's from the early 1940s, and it's running a 559. The 559 replaced the 538 in 1940.



Wednesday, I wore this Parkton with a 626, the replacement for the 559.



Thursday it was a Kentwood, the very first Lord Elgin I ever got. It's got a 670, the next-to-last 15/0 Lord Elgin movement.



Friday I wrapped up the week with a Townsman, carrying the last of the 15/0 Lord Elgin movements, essentially a 670 with Kif shockproofing on the balance.

 
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