Hey guys !
Agee asked me to post some pictures of the watches that I bought at the NAWCC Kansas City Regional a couple of days ago.
Here is one of them.........................................but it comes with some disappointment.
I have spent and insane amount of time over the years trying to find every last trench watch case style that was made by the Illinois Watch Case Company out of Elgin, Illinois.
This case might not look like much but it one of the rarest ones ever produced by the IWCCo.
This case was called "The Protected Hunting Military Wrist Watch Case".
At one point this watch case had a hinged protective cover over the top of the watch case, it was solid unlike other IWCCo cases that had integrated shrapnel guards that were see through.
I found an advert for a very similar case design from the IWCCo but it had one main difference, the location of the hinge.
In the advert the hinge is shown at the 9 o'clock position but on this case that I have here with me the hinge was located at the 12 o'clock position.
The lug design is a bit different as well but this just might be the artist's rendering.
This is a size 3/0s sterling silver case with swivel lugs and it still has the original sterling silver factory crown.
The case measures 46mm lug to lug, 33mm without the crown with a 14mm lug diameter.
I have seen other cases like this but they were Swiss made, NOT American made.
If this case were fully in tact it would be worth $$$$$ ! ! ! ! !
I installed a 1918 size 3/0s Elgin movement in the case to test for size and it was a perfect fit.
You can clearly see in these next two pictures where the integrated protective cover once was, the cover and hinge pin are both missing.
This will be going in the storage bin in the hopes that one day I'll find the correct hinged protective cover.
I probably have a better chance of winning the lottery though !
